A Disgrace in the Crowd

​For the past half-year or so, a friend and I have pondered when Trump would finally give "that" speech.  A meltdown on camera so out-of-control that it would be hard to ignore as opening the door to serious discussion about his early dementia, so pronounced that it couldn't be dismissed as just a "gaffe".  Something like the A Face in the Crowd moment.

That's the climactic scene when the main character, a former prison bum who's become an out-of-control, political powerful, homespun Bible-hugging TV star,  doesn't realize that a microphone has been intentionally left on at the end of a live broadcast as he reveals his true self, going on a megalomaniacal rant about his disdain for the public, most notably his adoring fans, destroying his political support.

Presciently written by Budd Schulberg.  Eerily so.
​
On Friday night, Trump gave a speech at a Turning Point Action event in West Palm Beach, Florida, that -- though it wasn't "that" speech -- opened the door to get there.
 
No, it wasn’t a hidden video, and no, it won't destroy his support, but it was live on national TV, said the quiet parts out loud, and exploded all over social media and newspapers, and was covered yesterday on the Sunday morning talk shows.  The only shame is that when he made the speech the weekday TV shows wouldn't be on for three days.  But I suspect that it will still be covered today, still news, even with that much time passing.  Not only because of how delusional it was, the lunacy of a sociopath out of control, unable to stop himself, distraught and breaking down begging, but perhaps more because of what it says foundationally about Trump right now.

​There are two interpretations one can draw from this – the fascist, “I want to be a dictator forever” version, and the bend over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt fascist out-of-control begging for help in a religious war version – but the thing is, it doesn't matter which.  Even at its most benign and general, this is totally fascist crazy insane.
 
Moreover, he has just given Kamala Harris and Democrats an ad to run and rerun. It's near-impossible that what Trump is  trying to convince Christians to do will convince a single undecided voter -- because, after all, they are undecided and so haven't yet been convinced to follow Trump and what he tells them to do. On the other hand, this risks making anyone but MAGOPs' skin crawl.

Notably, too, putting aside for just a moment how crazy manic this is, there is some uncertainty about three words described as "unintelligible" in a transcript I read, but playing the video several times, I am sure that he says, "I'm not Christian."  Mind you, I don't think for a moment, that's what he means or is trying to say, but being nuts and having early dementia, I suspect his frantic emotions got away from him.  And had a Freudian slip, saying the quiet part out loud , expressing what most rational observers have long seen from him and his refusal to say what his favorite Bible quote is, as well as his inability to say what religion means to him, other than describing his support from evangelicals.
 
There’s also one other, very important thing that can be taken from this, separate from how fascist crazy his words are – it shows how utterly terrified he is of Kamala Harris and losing.

And the Harris campaign understands this fully.  They almost immediately leaped on it and put out a response.  And it was blunt, and properly they put it in full context.
 

The problem for MAGOP campaign officials, beyond having to run with a candidate who not only says but believes this sort of thing, is that they really don't have an answer for it.  When asked on Sunday morning about Trump's comments, the best that Trump surrogate John Sununu could offer was that it was just "Trump being Trump."  Fortunately for Sununu, ABC host Martha Raddatz didn't follow-up on that and just moved on.  Unfortunately for Sununu, "Trump being Trump" means a white supremacist, fascist, anti-Semitic, pathological lying sociopath with early dementia.  And enough people know that, which is why his favorability rating is only 36%.

This may not have been Trump's A Face in the Crowd moment.  But he's standing in the pathway, and you can see him profusely sweating.  Screaming into the night.