The Things You Said: A Rough Week for Trump

Donald Trump got to do his favorite thing this week, holding a mask-free rally in North Carolina. He tried to announce an election day vaccine, but the drug companies shockingly displayed some integrity and advised caution.

But two things came out this week that deeply hurt Trump. 

First, the Atlantic reported that during his messy trip to France in 2018, Trump refused to visit the graves of Americans who lost their lives in battle, partly because he didn't want the weather to muss his hair and partly because he doesn't respect soldiers who die or suffer serious injury in battle. He referred to American war dead as "losers" and "suckers." Moreover, he asked that military parades exclude wounded veterans because "Nobody wants to see that."

Ouch. For a guy who counts on the military--who won military votes in 2016, this struck a nerve. Trump and his allies lashed out immediately to deny the report.

But Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin confirmed the Atlantic story, along with just about every other major news outlet. Trump called on Fox to fire Griffin, but he also took a very strange line with the military. In a Labor Day press conference Trump trotted out this line:

It's one of the reasons the military  — I'm not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.

All this when Trump's support among the military, commissioned and enlisted, is crumbling. A New Military Times poll has Joe Biden leading Trump by six points among the troops, 43-37. (In October 2016, Trump led Hillary by 20 points in the same poll.) Trump's favorability among the troops is now at -12, the worst of his presidency.

Trump went after the officers because the poll shows that 59 percent of them view Trump unfavorably, as opposed to "only" 47 percent of enlisted personnel. 

The second disaster for Trump involves reporting by Bob Woodward, who has Trump on tape from back in February admitting that he knew how bad the pandemic could get, he knew how deadly Covid-19 was, and yet he played down the threat. With 200,000 Americans dead, this quote won't play well.

I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.

And a new study from the Institute of Labor Economics estimates that the Sturgis, SD, motorcycle rally has led to 250,000 coronavirus infections with estimated public health costs of over $12 billion. Dr. Evil would be impressed.

The corruption continues, of course. We've learned that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy illegally paid employees to donate to Republican candidates when he was still in the business world. And Attorney General William Barr plans to use DOJ resources to defend Trump in a civil case against a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her. You and I are paying Trump's personal legal defenses. And we're getting reports that Trump has discussed holding aid to California during its worst wildfire season ever because it's a blue state.

With Joe Biden over 50% in most national polls--territory Hillary Clinton never visited--it's gonna be very, very hard for Trump to redeem his chances. Largely because of things he's said himself.