TRUMP’S FOCUS ON HIS SO CALLED “STRENGTH”, JUST MAKES HIS WEAKNESS OBVIOUS

…Trump devoted 14+ minutes telling the Tulsa rally crowd about his West Point tale of “the ramp and the water’.

Trump seriously feels proud that he can repeat five words, in their proper order

I hope that Joe Biden’s advisers are asking Joe to go after President Trump by calling him “weak”?

It seems that if you want to get under Trump’s skin, all you have to do is mention those times when Trump has shown himself to not be the strong bully he pretends to be.

That situation recently became clear when a Cabinet Meeting that was intended as a general update on President Trump’s reelection campaign, it got turned around to dealing with his physical capabilities.  You may recall all the noise that was made about him looking weak and feeble while walking down a ramp at the West Point Academy.  It was also where he appeared to need to use both hands, just to get a sip of water from a glass. 

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Back in 2018, Trump had taken a cognitive screening test as part of his 2018 physical.  But now, more than two years later, he  just had to bring up that 10-minute exam at his recent Cabinet Meeting.  As usual, Trump went on and on about how he’d dazzled the screening test proctors with his stellar performance.  According to two people in the meeting, Trump walked the room with about two dozen White House and re-election officials through some of the proctor's questions he of course, said he had aced.  One item that he was particularly proud of, was about him being able to repeat five words in proper order....amazing!

Back at that time, he was just taking the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test.  This test includes animal pictures and other simpleton questions aimed at detecting mild cognitive impairment such as beginning Dementia and/or Alzheimer’s.  It was intended to answer questions about Trump’s mental fitness. 

But in recalling it, Trump said he thought the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, would obviously never be able to pass this same assessment..  He even suggested challenging Biden to take the test, and of course, those people at the meeting, being totally familiar with Trump’s comments, they as usual, only spoke to the media on the condition of anonymity.

The seeming real issue was that of Trump’s growing preoccupation in recent weeks over the media’s perceptions of his mental and physical health.  This is at a time when critics have mocked Trump for episodes in which they say he has appeared frail or confused. The attacks Trump has since previously levied against Biden, dismissing the former vice president as “Sleepy Joe,” who is secreted away in his basement and Trump says is totally enfeebled.  This vision has since boomeranged back on Trump, as his opponents have seized on Trump’s own missteps that raise multiple concerns as to his mental and physical abilities.

                           

Another sign of Trump’s unease came at the Saturday night in Tulsa, when the president actually devoted more than 14 minutes to regaling his small campaign rally crowd with the tale of “the ramp and the water.” Eager to dismiss questions about his fitness when he had struggled with a glass of water and walked unsteadily down a ramp following his June 13 commencement address at West Point, Trump of course then offered his revisionist history of the event.

The ramp on that sunny day, Trump asserted, was as slippery as “an ice-skating rink.” But he claimed he “ran down” it nonetheless, despite the video evidence showing him shuffling down the incline haltingly.  As for the water, Trump said, he used two hands to drink because he didn’t want to spill on his expensive silk tie.

“Anyway, that’s a long story, but here’s the story,” the president said, finally winding down. “I’ve lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.”

He had previously obsessed about the episode to his aides in private and during a Wall Street Journal interview, when he brought the incident up unprompted and offered to produce the leather-bottom shoes he had been wearing that day, which he said were “not good” for ramps.

However, there was a picture of the painted ramp with nonslip strips leading to the stage, built just for President Trump’s speech. This ramp is clearly seen during the commencement ceremony on the parade field, at West Point.

“In the middle of the worst economy in a century and with more than a hundred thousand Americans dead, this guy is primarily concerned with not looking weak,” said Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), referring to the death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic. “And his endless, bottomless insecurity was onstage, in three dimensions, during that storytelling moment, for everyone to see. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in the last four years, but that display of juvenile behavior and self-regard will go into the Trump time capsule.”

Yet in these recent weeks, Trump has tried to focus on Biden’s physical and mental acuity, as he casts about for ways to attack his Democratic rival while stewing over media coverage that he believes, and it’s true, that it makes him look weak and feeble.

Last week, Trump and his campaign team lobbied the presidential debate commission to have four debates.  This is because they believe Biden will look weaker and will make more mistakes than Trump on the debate stage.  But the Trump team wants face to face debates with an audience,  This is so that Trump can play off from the audience.  With the current pandemic, if there are more debates, they could end up being virtual debates, with no audience such as it was with the Biden/Sanders debate.

The president has encouraged his advisers to attack Biden over his mental acuity.  This is according to White House officials.  However, some are worried that doing so too aggressively could backfire and hurt him among senior citizens.

“For someone so obsessed with appearing strong, Donald Trump shows us every day just how weak he is,” Biden press secretary TJ Ducklo said in a statement.  “Donald Trump doesn’t care about the health or economic prosperity of the American people. He only cares about himself.”

Trump is totally aware of, and he fumes at any portrayal of him as weak.  He was furious earlier this month after news leaked that he and his family were rushed to a secure underground bunker as protesters converged on the White House in the wake of the death of George Floyd.  Trump initially falsely claimed that he had simply visited the bunker to inspect it.

Trump has also refused to wear a mask during the pandemic, despite his own government’s guidelines, and he has regularly suggested that Biden and others who wear them are showing weakness or fear.

Flying to Tulsa on Air Force One Saturday, the president was fuming to aides about the small crowd size of his rally.  When he had said that a million people had requested tickets to attend the rally, only 6,200 people showed up in the 19,000-seat arena.  That is just another form of weakness in Trump’s behavior.

Trump’s critics have seized on his weakness, taking every opportunity to needle him publicly.  In fact, last week, the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican group, launched a new 45-second ad that begins with, “Something’s wrong with Donald Trump.  He’s shaky, weak, trouble speaking, trouble walking,” the narrator continues as grainy images flash by, including of Trump at West Point. “The most powerful office in the world needs more than a weak, unfit, shaky president.”

Right after the Tulsa rally, the group pushed out another video, mocking his smaller-than-expected turnout, and hitting similar themes: “Sad, weak, low-energy,” says the narrator. “Just like your presidency, just like you.”

Mike Murphy, a vocal Trump critic who is now a strategic adviser to Republican Voters Against Trump.  Murphy said Trump’s obsession with never seeming weak belies a deeper insecurity, making this particular line of attack particularly devastating.  “And now the strong guy… the strength image… is melting and we found out how weak and needy he is,” Murphy said. “If it’s ‘Sleepy Joe,’ we have ‘Weak, Needy Donald, and that is his kryptonite.”

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has been running a similar playbook against Biden. The campaign released an ad last week called “Fortitude” that mocked some of Biden’s missteps.

“Joe Biden is slipping . . . Biden is clearly diminished,” the narrator says, against the backdrop of Biden seeming to stumble through remarks. “Joe Biden does not have the strength, the stamina and mental fortitude required to lead this country.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews rejected the idea that Trump shares any of the physical or mental weaknesses that he accuses Biden of possessing.

“I challenge anyone who absurdly questions this president’s health to spend one day trying to keep up with his rigorous schedule,” Matthews said in an email statement. “This president never stops — whether it’s working early in the morning or late into the evening.”

Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, said the challenge for the Trump team now is that they “always put themselves into this everything is the biggest ever, the greatest ever” box, making it difficult for Trump to countenance even the slight hint of weakness on his part. “What we’re seeing over the past few weeks is really the issue of what gets under his [Trump’s] skin.”

Heye said that while he didn’t think the initial coverage of the West Point ramp or water drinking was particularly problematic, the president clearly did. “He has been rattled by the reaction to it, and it’s because it speaks to that issue of strength,” Heye said.

Reaching under his lectern in Tulsa during his re-enactment episode Saturday, the president pulled out a glass of water and brought it to his lips with one hand, raising it to the crowd between sips as if toasting an achievement. Then he tossed it away to his side as his supporters roared with delight.

“Trump! Trump!” the crowd chanted in response. “Four more years! Four more years!”

God help us, if that crowd gets its way.

Copyright G. Ater 2020