I feel like I’ve written this post four or five times now. But I just cannot get over or even fully get my head around the way that Donald Trump’s mere presence in the race has this power to drive everyone on the Republican side of the aisle insane. I don’t mean just that they don’t like that he’s in the lead and creating campaign havoc. I mean forgetting who they are, getting into fights with each other, and just generally losing their minds.
It’s like one of these classic Star Trek episodes where some malevolent non-corporeal force is driving everyone mad or putting everyone at each other’s throats for some unknown reason. But it’s not non-corporeal at all. It’s extremely corporeal, more than you and me. It’s Donald Trump.
The latest example – actually the second that involves him, the first being the Trump-triggered feud with Bristol Palin – is with Erick Erickson.
Erickson has posted a series of rage- and expletive-filled emails he got from Trump supporters after he tried to knock Trump when Erickson thought he was done – just after the Fox GOP debate when he thought Trump was on the ropes and conservatives were turning on him. As we know, Trump wasn’t down at all. He was only getting stronger, about to successfully pocket an abject surrender from Fox News and perhaps even force Fox to turn over hostages for good behavior.
This has inspired Erickson to opine about the toxicity of public rhetoric today and importance of civility and being “happy warriors.” My point here isn’t to bash Erickson. He’s a friendly enough guy in person. But he is not a civility guy. No way, no how, not even remotely. But now he’s come into the Trump harmonic convergence field and apparently forgotten who he is and lost his mind.
Like I said, I don’t know how Trump does it. He may have superpowers that require him to be President.
