Someone please take Donald Trump‘s phone away from him.
There’s growing evidence that the Donald officially lost it on Twitter this weekend. It’s true that Trump regularly loses his cool to some degree, but this time feels different. The GOP presidential nominee’s most recent tweetstorms have worried observers.
Former Ron Paul aide Bruce Bartlett put it this way:
I think Trump is losing it. His Twitter rants are becoming increasingly unhinged.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) August 14, 2016
Trump’s reaction to a recent New York Times story portraying a campaign in tatters was to continue slamming the media. Blistering accusations that the Times lied in its coverage of the dysfunctional Trump campaign was followed minutes later by tweets informing America that everything was A-OK on Team Trump:
The failing @nytimes has become a newspaper of fiction. Their stories about me always quote non-existent unnamed sources. Very dishonest!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2016
I am truly enjoying myself while running for president. The people of our country are amazing – great numbers on November 8th!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2016
At one point it appeared that Trump had forgotten how to retweet, something he’s frequently had trouble with to the detriment of his campaign. The Republican nominee instead opted to directly copy and paste exuberant tweets from his fans. This, of course, had the unfortunate drawback of making it appear that Trump was showering himself with praise.
“@willspeakout: Thank you for all that you are doing for us! You campaign endlessly and have spent millions.We love you! #TrumpTrain” Thanks
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2016
“@need2knowu: @willspeakout yes you are my hero I admire you for laying down your glorious luxurious life to get beat up for America!!!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2016
After taking the rest of the day to cool off, he fired off these tweets at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning:
The failing @nytimes talks about anonymous sources and meetings that never happened. Their reporting is fiction. The media protects Hillary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
My rallies are not covered properly by the media. They never discuss the real message and never show crowd size or enthusiasm.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
This was all before 6am ET on a Sunday morning, which no doubt reinforced their unhinged quality. Trump either woke up ridiculously early, or used a nifty social media management tool (shoutout to Hootsuite!) to pre-schedule his tweets.
It’s no doubt been a rocky August for Trump, with his post-convention bounce all but eliminated and Clinton’s lead in the polls only widening. Recent Trump missteps include calling for “Second Amendment” people to deal with Clinton, which some believed was a call for her assassination, and claiming that President Barack Obama was the founder of ISIS. Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort blasted Jake Tapper on Sunday for misinterpreting Trump’s Second Amendment comments as a threat.
“Most people did not interpret it that way, it was not at all meant to be a threat,” Paul Manafort told Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union.
A CBS News poll of battleground states released on Sunday showed Clinton leading by five points in Florida and with double-digit leads in Virginia and New Hampshire. Another poll by USA Today/Rock the Vote released Sunday indicated that Trump has the worst showing among American voters under the age of 35 out of any presidential candidate in history.
I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process. People get it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
