Was last week Donald Trump’s Waterloo?
The S.S. Trump, the once unsinkable juggernaut, is taking on water after a series of self-inflicted torpedoes that have made the most unlikely presidential front-runner a little less likely.
If Donald Trump never gets to “make America great again”, the week ending the day after April Fool’s Day will be the one historians point to as his Waterloo.
Once again the chattering class claims Trump has “gone too far.” I’m not so sure. He’s already survived more blunders than any 10 candidates. But clearly he hurt himself.
In Wisconsin, 61-percent of Republicans polled prefer Ted Cruz or John Kasich. Trump is currently losing the female vote in 50 out of 50 states. He also holds the dubious distinction of the highest negative rating in American history.
His one bright spot? Hillary Clinton comes in a close second in the yuck department.
Last week began with a continuation of the imbecilic back-and-forth between Trump and Ted Cruz over whose wife is less desirable as first lady – Mrs. Trump because of her R-rated modeling portfolio – or Heidi Cruz because, in Trump’s eyes, she’s not pretty enough to live in the White House.
After he re-Tweeted an unflattering photograph of Mrs. Cruz even uber Trump booster Ann Coulter questioned his mental stability. Of course, by Friday the first lady fiasco was nearly forgotten, which would be good news for Trump if it weren’t for the reason – a flood of fresh faux pas.
Trump put on an epic display of ill-considered policy pronouncements that appear to simply pop into his head like a wannabe-comic at Uncle Boffo’s House of Chuckles on open mic night.
Let’s review:
His campaign advisor, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with assault for allegedly bruising the arm of a reporter trying to elbow her way to the candidate. Trump defended Lewandowski by pointing out the reporter was “carrying a pen.” And we all agree reporters have no business walking around with pens, right?
Trump then suggested NATO was obsolete; not a crazy notion but odd coming from a guy who insists he never tips his hand. Given Vladimir Putin’s land grab in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea I’m sure the Kremlin is happy to know “President Trump” believes Western Europe has nothing to fear from Moscow.
The powerful Trump brain is now focused laser-like on world affairs. In quick succession he disparaged the Geneva Convention and said it would be a good thing if South Korea and Japan had nuclear weapons. He also called nuclear proliferation a grave threat. These last two doozies came in the same sentence! That the Japanese constitution prohibits nuclear weapons, and that the Japanese people have two big reasons – Hiroshima and Nagasaki – for being a tad less enthusiastic about nukes, apparently didn’t enter into his thinking.
It’s not clear what, if anything, enters into Donald Trump’s thinking.
In an attempt to find out MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked Trump a series of rapid-fire questions, giving birth to the now infamous “women must be punished” for having an abortion quip Trump retracted 3-hours later.
By week’s end the anti-establishment candidate was behind closed doors in Washington for a powwow with the very establishment GOP officials his supporters love to hate. We’re told he also met for the first time with his “national security advisors.” I suspect Captain Crunch and Colonel Sanders are in that mix.
If last week does turn out to be the beginning of Trump’s end it won’t be because of any one of the disastrous things he said, it will be because last week was the week when his recklessness and ignorance reached critical mass. It was the week when even those participating in the national temper-tantrum that has been the hallmark of his rise to the top of the GOP field began to get cold feet.
Doug McIntyre’s column appears Sundays. Hear him weekday mornings 5-10 on 790 AM. He can be reached at: Doug@DougMcIntyre.com.