We see it with disturbing regularity: There are faint glimmers that Donald Trump is getting his act together and turning it around, and just when he’s about to build on momentum – BOOM! Trump’s worst impulses get the best of him.
Think of the GOP mood this morning: Trump’s speech focused on some big issues, and probably connected to people worried about the country’s future. Ivanka was a hit, and could be a real asset. Pence is going to reassure and lock down the conservatives. The party’s getting unified that this guy has to be elected to stop Hillary Clinton.
And then, moments ago, Trump returned to the topic of Ted Cruz, his father, and the JFK assassination:
“They have a picture, an old picture, having breakfast with Lee Harvey Oswald. Now, I’m not saying anything. They said — and here’s how the press takes this story. So this has nothing to do with me. Except I may have pointed it out. But it had nothing to do with me! I have no control over anything! I might have pointed it out. But they never denied it. Did anybody even deny it was the father? Did anybody ever say, ‘oh, that’s not really my father’? That’s a little hard to do because it looks like him. So here’s the story. The press takes that and says, Donald Trump and his conspiracy theories. He went out and said his father was with Lee Harvey Oswald and he assassinated the president. What did I do?”
“I know nothing about his father. I knew nothing about Lee Harvey Oswald. But there was a picture on the front page of the National Enquirer which does have credibility, and they’re not going to do pictures like that, because they get sued for a lot of money if things are wrong. Okay? A lot of money. And there’s a picture. And that’s the only thing I know.”
Back to square one again.