Taunting Donald Trump as racist and sexist is getting a tad shopworn. Needing some fresh material, Morning Joe broke out a new attack line on Trump today, calling him "a badly damaged, deeply damaged man."
In an opening segment devoted to trashing Trump over his performance at the National Association of Black Journalists forum yesterday, Mike Barnicle was the first to float the new line, saying:
"What we saw yesterday is just another exhibit of a badly damaged man on stage....the culture has passed him by. He's playing an old-school politics that has always worked for him. Hate, envy, resentment, fear of the other."
A bit later, Charlie Sykes echoed Barnicle, twice: "this is a deeply damaged man who, who is really sort of, you know, once again in the Fat Elvis stage of his career....it was a bizarre performance, and I'm really glad they invited him and that they shone the spotlight on what's going on inside this deeply damaged, 78-year-old man's mind."
It does remain to be seen whether Trump's questioning of Kamala's racial code-switching will work for him beyond the bounds of his base. It certainly excited the pro-Harris press.
Trump has a treasure trove to work with of far-left policy positions that Harris has taken. On the record. In her own voice. On everything from the border to bail, Trump can put Harris on the spot, and force her to defend an indefensible record. Might Trump be better off sticking to her vulnerability on the issues?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
8/1/24
6:12 am EDTMIKE BARNICLE: Reverend Al, we've known Donald Trump for a long time. You've known him longer than I have. What we saw yesterday is just another exhibit of a badly damaged man on stage.
And, I don't know about you, but watching him, it occurred to me that the culture has passed him by. He's playing an old-school politics that has always worked for him. Hate, envy, resentment, fear of the other. But the culture we live in today is so accelerated that you can measure it by a stopwatch. It just moves so quickly. And his act is old. He's got an old act. And as Mara pointed out, he knows partially, internally, that it's old and it's not working.
And now, he's confronted by an opponent who has electrified the Democratic party within the week, electrified the party
CHARLIE SYKES: I watchted this performance, at his rally last night, and we can talk about, you know, what his strategy was and what he intended to do. But I also think, you know, the other thing was the complete lack of impulse control.
You know, as Mike Barnicle says, this is a deeply damaged man who, who is really sort of, you know, once again in the Fat Elvis stage of his career. He's just -- I thought it was very revealing that in his statement, he's going back to when he came down the golden escalator back in 2015.
This man is relitigating his original playbook, because that's what he's got. And I think that's what -- that's what my takeaway from all of this was. That he keeps going back to things that he thinks work. And I also agree with Mike when he says that, you really have the sense that this is a man who thinks the things that worked back in 2015 are going to work now, and the culture has not changed.
But it was a bizarre performance, and I'm really glad they invited him and that they shone the spotlight on what's going on inside this deeply damaged, 78-year-old man's mind.
