EVEN BY MODERN political discourse standards, President Donald Trump reached a new level of frenzy and attack this week: He suggested a cable news host committed murder. He threatened to pull the Republican National Convention out of the state that has spent nearly two years planning for the event. He tweeted gleefully about media layoffs, ridiculed his likely Democratic election foe for wearing a protective mask and claimed that if more people vote by mail – as he does – the election will be a fraud.
Trump’s signature combativeness has long been an inspiration for his most devout followers and a source of outrage among his detractors. But this week, the president appears to have crossed a line – moving his favorite social media forum, Twitter, to append a fact-check suggestion to the president’s often factually challenged tweets. That led the president Wednesday to threaten, on that very forum, to shut down the site – though it’s not clear why he believes he has the power to do so.
“He’s jumped the shark – on ‘Morning Joe,’ and the ballots and people robbing mailboxes. It’s just lunacy,” says independent political analyst Stu Rothenberg, referring to the cable news show hosted by former GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough, whom Trump has suggested murdered a young staffer in 2001. Continue reading.