One the one hand, Donald Trump has roared. He has now declared war on the 2020 federal election and put it in a corner. He is asking that it be delayed, knowing that it will not be delayed. In the case that it is not delayed, he has effectively declared it rigged and illegitimate already. This is the single most staggering threat to democracy since 1861. The nation should be echoing. Except for one thing.

His tweets look like a shot across the bow. They look like a horrific threat by a strong dictator.

In person, he looks like someone who is about to say “I resign, Pence will be running the country,” any minute. As many said, he looked drugged out of his mind. But John Marshall, publisher of Talking Points Memo hit it just right:

This ghastly presser was on par with this morning's tweet. Repeated attacks on the November elections, claiming he'll need to delay it. But his affect told a different story. He seemed staggering, almost punch drunk. He feels defeated and he's lashing out. It will continue.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 30, 2020

Punch drunk. Meaning he’s been hit, he’s tilting, off balance, can’t speak or look someone in the eye, all because his opponent is too strong and has landed too many shots on the chin. In this case his opponent is reality, Biden, polls, COVID, a dead economy, possibly having to shut the country down again, a prosecutor after his taxes, Putin on line one, and no way out for Trump. That’s “punch drunk,” and god only know what damned pills Trump took before this press conference to get himself through this.

He is weak. But the reasons may be scattered.

There are other factors that might be playing into this. That this is all a distraction, the call for and election delay. Today, the government announced that the nation had the worst economic quarter in history from April through June. It is possible that Trump is just trying to get past that horrific news – perhaps that news hit him hard, and he wants to talk about anything else.

It was all planned. Today we buried a voting rights icon so he had to ruin the day. Plus we heard from President Barack Obama. He knew the economic numbers were coming out. It was all a plan and everybody's falling for it.

— Angela D. Lemke 💙 (@grateful14u) July 30, 2020

And it doesn’t help that Cain actually was a big supporter and was on the plane to and from Tulsa. Cain died, Cain is the same age as Trump, early 70s. Trump has seen the disease close in on him with O’Brien, his National Security Advisor. Trump may think that sooner or later it’s coming to him.

It was bound to hit someone in his inner circle eventually. I’m no Cain fan but that doesn’t change the fact that I feel so sad for his family…he was still human.

— Michael “Wear A Goddam Mask” Fisher 😷 (@mjf_dfw) July 30, 2020

We don’t know. We do know that major players are now calling Trump out. He is weak, he has no punch left in him, he is reeling in every way, and his only shot is to swing wildly.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom