There’s not all that much truth to the Trump ‘meltdown’

Talk of Donald Trump “meltdowns” tends to be overblown. For eight years, we’ve been told, frequently, that he’s losing the plot, fuming at staffers, having tantrum and setting fire to his re-election hopes. Somehow, however, the Trump train keeps chugging on. 

This week, Republican strategists are telling Politico that Trump is having “a public nervous breakdown” and many Democrats are gloating that he and J.D. Vance just can’t handle being called “weird” by Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota.  

The Trump campaign now believes that Walz gives them a chance to ‘reset’

It is true that, having run a surprisingly disciplined campaign for most of the year, Trump and his team seem to be behaving more erratically than usual. On Monday, Republicans tried to blame “Kamala Krash,” as Trump called her, for the sharp slide in the stock markets. But the markets began recovering on Monday afternoon, which dampened that line of attack. Trump has coined another new nickname for his opponent, “Kamabla,” which arguably isn’t his best. And this week he launched a rather unexpected broadside against his fellow Republican Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, a crucial battleground state, calling him a “bad guy.” John Watson, a former Georgia Republican party leader, said that “attacking Brian Kemp and his family is a galactic, unforced error.”

More often than not, however, there’s method in Trump’s madness. Certainly, he’s moved away from the more benign version of himself that he presented at the Republican convention last month. But that doesn’t mean he’s having a breakdown. Trump knows that, while a lot of conservative Georgians might recoil at his rudeness to Kemp, a large number of other voters, including independents, enjoy his willingness to annoy senior Republicans. Trump’s maverick craziness is an important part of his appeal. 

Team Kamala is gloating about their rise in the polls — and, at first glance, the selection of Tim Walz seems a shrewd one. He seems to shore up her weak points. He is affable, she does not. He’s got union support and blue-collar credentials, she does not. He’s unknown, she is known for being obnoxious.  

But Republicans don’t seem too wrongfooted by Walz. To their mind, he’s like Lotso, the cuddly bear villain in Toy Story 3: he sounds gentle but he really isn’t. As governor of Minnesota, he allowed Minneapolis to burn for days out of a warped sense of solidarity for Black Lives Matter. His record on trans issues is far to the left of the American middle and he was draconian in his lockdowns during Covid. 

The Trump campaign now believes that Walz gives them a chance to “reset,” which implies an awareness that the last two weeks have not been going. Trump, meanwhile, sounds jubilant. “He’s a shocking pick,” he said on Fox News this morning. “And I’m thrilled.” He didn’t sound like he was having a meltdown.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.