The post-Independence Day week began with the second-best news Donald Trump could possibly get. Yes, an indicted Hillary would be even more vulnerable, but the FBI’s investigation found Clinton and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” and “the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified e-mail systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.” Director Comey pointed out that almost everything Hillary Clinton said about her server for the past year has been a lie, a scathing assessment that all but officially declares her unworthy of the public’s trust.
How did Trump respond to this gift, this stroke of good fortune that no other presidential candidate in the history of American politics has ever received? By praising Saddam Hussein (“he killed terrorists, he did that so good”), by offering a lengthy defense of his Tweet of a six-pointed star in a graphic about Hillary Clinton, boasting in a meeting with Republican lawmakers that he will win Illinois and that senators Mark Kirk, Jeff Flake, and Ben Sasse are doomed for not supporting him and finally, Tweeting out a picture of a “Frozen” sticker book:
Where is the outrage for this Disney book? Is this the 'Star of David' also?
Dishonest media! #Frozen pic.twitter.com/4LJBpSm8xa— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2016
This is not merely a swing and a miss at slow-pitch softball; this is swinging mightily at tee ball and hitting yourself with the bat.
The question for all Republicans who want to defeat Hillary Clinton, but particularly the delegates in Cleveland: If Donald Trump can’t maximize his gains from an opportunity like this, how likely is it he will do any better between now and November?