The Same Old Don

He can't help himself.

On Thursday night, Donald Trump was supposed to give a unifying address, recounting the assassination attempt that he survived and uniting not only his own party but the country. He was supposed to convince independent and undecided voters that he was not the angry and bitter victim that he displays on social media, but a real leader who can unite a polarized electorate.

It lasted for about 30 minutes -- until he went off script, and took off on a rant that lasted for another hour, returning to his stump speech lies, embracing his victimhood, boring even his adoring audience in the room, not to mention the millions of Americans watching at home, proving once again that a pathological narcissist cannot control himself.

And it has gotten worse ever since.

The man doesn't have a graceful bone in his body.

This is what his former vice president, Mike Pence, had to say about President Joe Biden's exit from the race:

"President Joe Biden made the right decision for our country and I thank him for putting the interests of our Nation ahead of his own. After the assassination attempt on President Trump and President Biden's decision to end his campaign, now is a time for leaders in both parties to project calm and send a message of strength and resolve to America's friends and enemies alike that, whatever the state of our politics, the American people are strong and our American military stands ready to defend our freedom and our vital national interests anywhere in the world."

This is what Donald Trump had to say Monday morning on Truth Social: "It's a new day and Joe Biden doesn't remember quitting the race yesterday!"

He then proceeded to rant and rave about the man he is no longer running against, calling Biden "incompetent," forgetful, anti-democratic, unfit to serve as commander in chief and "the Worst President in the history of the United States." He proceeded to dive into conspiracy theories, claiming twice that Biden never really had Covid and was just using it as an excuse to exit the race, effectively accusing both the president and the White House physician of lying. He argued that Democrats "stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries," even as the delegates who were elected in those primaries were lining up behind Kamala Harris, his choice and theirs, to top the ticket.

Any chance Trump has of getting a bounce from his unity convention has gone up in smoke. Any chance he had of capitalizing on his show of strength in the face of an assassin's bullet (as compared to the visibly frail Biden, shown on a split screen during the convention, carefully making his way down Air Force One's steps after landing in Delaware to isolate himself) has been wiped away.

Trump is now the bitter old man in this race. The press, having belatedly and then brutally focused on Biden's cognition and health, will now turn the microscope on the man who can't control himself. In the meantime, as Harris cements the nomination, a clip of Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, attacking her as a "childless cat lady" has gone viral. Asked by Tucker Carlson about his views on the "childless left" in 2021, Vance answered:

"We are effectively run in this country ... by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too. It's just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children."

Someone should tell him that Taylor Swift has three cats. So much for the Republican Coronation and the new face of Donald Trump.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.