Trump Blames Everybody but Himself

Numerous editorials and articles in outlets ranging across the political spectrum from the right wing National Review, to The Atlantic here and here (both written by conservative former Republicans) and the liberal Salon and even Trump boot licker Lindsey Graham, a/k/a the Palmetto Queen and Lady G,  have all confirmed that Donald Trump's debate performance last night was a disaster and train wreck.  Yet Trump and many of his most loyal - and untruthful media outlets - apologists have blamed everyone and everything other than Der Trumpenfuhrer himself for the debacle.  Seemingly, the MAGA base and the faux journalists on much of the political right simply cannot admit to themselves that their cult leader is a mentally declining elderly man who time after time took the bait thrown to him by Kamala Harris and diverged into insanity, including blathering about the totally debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were eating neighbors' dogs and cats. The batshit craziness was off the charts and at times it was impossible to understand what the self-absorbed, narcissistic Trump was even trying to say.  Sadly, it is doubtful that many in MAGA world will belatedly do some soul search and realize they have been worship a buffoon whose only attribute is fanning the base's hatreds and prejudices.  Another piece in The Atlantic (again by a former Republican) looks at Trump's refusal to accept blame for his own disastrous debate performance: 

This morning found the former apex predator of American politics looking for some hand-holding. Donald Trump said on Fox & Friends that he is “not inclined” to do any more debates, but that if he does, he wants only the friendliest possible moderators—his suggestions were the Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, or Laura Ingraham.

Trump’s comment came during a morning spent complaining about last night’s ABC moderators and arguing that the network should lose its broadcasting license. He was trying to pick up the pieces from a shambolic performance. “Trump lost his cool over and over,” David Frum wrote in The Atlantic. “Goaded by predictable provocations, he succumbed again and again.” Kamala Harris baited him with surgical precision, triggering his insecurities while giving him full freedom to openly wallow in his delusions.

Even some of Trump’s most reliable sycophants had to recognize that the fault lay neither in the stars nor in the moderators but rather in the candidate himself. Others in the former president’s universe, though, have refused to acknowledge that truth. . . . . Megyn Kelly [a former big law firm attorney who clearly knows better] posted: “These moderators are a disgraceful failure and this is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen. Shame on you @ABC.” Other reactions were even more hysterical. Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, suggested not only that ABC lose its license but that the moderators and network executives be charged with “criminal election fraud and interference.”

As soon as he got offstage, Trump grasped onto his supporters’ line of defense. “I thought that was my best Debate, EVER, especially since it was THREE ON ONE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, echoing phrasing used online during the debate. Trump must be aware on some level that last night, tens of millions of voters watched a bitter, confused, and diminished elderly man fall apart in front of their eyes. At his rallies, Trump can get away with his signature lies and tantrums of grievance—and with not saying much at all about actual policy plans. In his softball interviews with fawning right-wing hosts, he can ramble and lie without fear of being challenged. At the presidential debate, though, it didn’t work. So he has decided to blame everybody but himself.

History should note that the former president spent part of the day of the debate hanging out with a notoriously bigoted conspiracy theorist and posting memes referencing a false claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio. Even after the story of the pet-eating immigrants was debunked, Trump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, continued to push the racist idea, which led to the debate’s most memorable moment.

Actually, it’s not happening, as the debate moderator David Muir pointed out, noting that ABC had reached out to the Springfield city manager to confirm this. Trump and his supporters were incensed that the ABC moderators, who fact-checked some of Trump’s statements in the debate live, corrected this and a few of his other egregious lies—for example, pointing out that killing newborn babies is illegal, contra Trump’s claim that in some states, doctors can “execute” babies after birth.

Attacking debate moderators and the media in general is nothing new for Trump. He makes no secret of his loathing for the press and for anyone who holds him to account.

But it wasn’t the moderators or the network, or even Harris, who forced Trump to begin ranting that “they’re eating the dogs!” That was all Trump. Ever the showman, he may understand just how awful last night’s show was for him—which is why he’s pointing the finger at everyone else.