Donald Trump Again (as Always) Shows His Colors

The other night, Donald Trump sat down for an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox.  I watched a little of it, but only as much of it that I could take, which wasn't a lot.

Most notable, of course, was Ms. Kelly's anticipated question to him about the insults and crass statements he'd made towards her, in particular, describing her as a "bimbo."  His reply was depicted afterwards as a bit self-effacing and apologetic, however it was anything but.  Actually, it was pathetic and really not much of an apology at all.

To begin with, he tried to feign ignorance that he'd even said anything wrong -- this from the man who's bragged that he is so smart, really smart, with a really great memory, the best memory ever.  And he wasn't sure that he actually had ever referred to Megyn Kelly a bimbo.  If you rarely watch television, even you probably know he called her a bimbo.

"Uh, that was a retweet.  Did I say that?" he somewhat sheepishly asked.

"Many times," she replied.

Many times, indeed.  And Donald Trump didn't supposedly remember even once.  The real way to reply is "I'm sorry, it was said for effect and in the heated course of a campaign, and wrong."  (Actually, the real way to reply is much longer than that, but we're talking Donald Trump here.  I'm making it easy for him.)

And even though he sort-of, kind-of, in-a-way regretted his words (without actually apologizing), at least regret for Donald Trump (not by human standards), by then saying "Ooooh, OK," followed by a meaningless and paltry, "excuse me" -- the sort of thing you might say if you elbowed someone in the head when trying to get in front of them in line -- he then wiped even that out by trying to explain that surely she must have been called far worse, and so it really wasn't all that bad.  Really.  He said this.

"That’s not the most horrible thing. Over your life, you’ve been called a lot worse. Is that right? Wouldn’t you say?", he awkwardly twisted.

Well, yes, she probably has, and by Donald Trump, no doubt, like that whole "blood coming out of her...wherever" thing.  But no, sir, it was bad.  And wrong.  And you say, "I'm sorry," and take it like an adult.  Especially when you want to be President of the United States.  "It wasn't that bad" is not only idiotic, but makes even a pathetic semi-apology a non-apology.

But from reports I came across, other parts of the interview were awful, as well.

"The thing that gets me in trouble is the retweet," Donald Trump said.  "The retweet is really more of a killer than a tweet.  I seem to do pretty well with the tweet."

First of all, a) no, you don't.  You do pretty poorly with the tweet, too.  And you do it a lot.  B) it doesn't matter if it's the "retweet," it's coming from you and it counts.  And c) no, dear reader, these words are not coming from your 12-year-old pre-teen, trying to explain away infantile online actions in social media, so they don't get grounded and lose computer privileges.  This was said by the Republican Party nominee to be President of the United States.  Dear God, really.

Further, Donald Trump (R-Trump Towers) explained why he gets so obnoxious and vicious and mean-spirited in his attacks and that supposedly they're not bullying.  "When I'm wounded, I go after people hard.  I try to un-wound myself."  Then he added, "I'm responding,  Now, I then respond times-10.  I don't know.  I then respond pretty strongly."

Okay, let's take a deep breath and go again.

First off all, no, he doesn't just do this when he's "wounded."  He was scathing towards Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorna and other candidates none of whom "wounded" him, but solely because they were competitors and he wanted to take them out.  Though I suppose with Donald Trump's clearly paper-thin skin, he likely can't take any criticism and sees even a single negative word -- even when he's actually wrong, which is...well, a lot -- as someone "wounding" him, even if it isn't.

Secondly, this isn't just "responding," this is bullying.

And third, again, these words aren't your 14-year-old teenager called into the principle's office and trying to explain their bullying, nasty, social misfit behavior away, while squirming in the chair.  This is the Republican Party nominee to lead their party as candidate to be President of the United States.

But finally -- is this how the man will act when he's meeting with world leaders and negotiating with them??!  If they disagree with him...God forbid, if they actually criticize him sharply, which I'm going to guess happens a lot in international politics...is this how Donald Trump expects to act???  Honestly, I don't even think it's a matter of how he "expects" to act, I think this is who Donald Trump is.  And has show himself to be for 30 years.  Period.

And in fact he proved it near the end of the interview.  That's when he made clear that that, y'know sort-of, kind-of fake apology to Megyn Kelly earlier was pointless, and he didn't even mean it, no matter how small "it" was.  That's because he told Kelly that he stayed mad sometimes for a long time, and suggested that his vendetta with her might return.  "This could happen again with us," he said.

I don't think "could" is the proper word.  With a petulant, spoiled, mean-spirited egomaniac who always gets his way and is now raised to the exalted level of leader of the entire Republican Party -- the man who GOP consultant Mike Murphy said has a "chimpanzee-like understanding of national security policy" --  I think you can count on it.

And Fox and Megyn Kelly just let so much of this just slide by.  Because...well, they're Fox.

And this is who the Republican Party has chosen to be their titular leader as nominee for President of the United States, commander-in-chief of the U.S. military and leader of the free world.

Shame on them.  Pathetic.  And it's only just started.  May this incompetent, cruel, clueless, self-aggrandizing  clown not get any closer than he is today to the Oval Office -- even on a White House tour -- and hopefully be pummeled by national voters deep into the ground, and take the GOP with him.  But thanks to the Republican Party, he actually has a chance.

Shame on them.  It's one thing to dislike a candidate.  It's another thing to be horrified by almost everything about them even if they weren't a candidate.