There are times when it’s very easy to believe Donald Trump lives in an alternate universe. And by that I don’t mean his running for president in the first place. I’m talking about garden variety campaign events where Trump either fails to remember what happened in the recent past or hopes Republican voters fail to remember.
The latest instance is Trump’s “defense” of Ben Carson. Mark Levin points out that Trump is evidently positioning himself as Carson’s defender as he criticizes Ted Cruz’ campaign for a caucus–night tweet in Iowa.
The background is a CNN reporter had a breaking news scoop that at first looked very much like the beginning of the end for Ben Carson. The reporter announced Carson was leaving the campaign trail to go to Florida and rest. He also hinted at an announcement from the Carson campaign in the near future.
Combine that with the poll collapse the doctor has endured in the past few weeks and it’s very easy to conclude Carson was withdrawing. But shortly after the first report, the correspondent tweeted that the Carson campaign said the doctor is most definitely not withdrawing from the contest.
Unfortunately when CNN hosts broadcast the “breaking news” they did not include the second tweet, leaving the impression that Carson would soon be out.
Eager campaign beavers in the Cruz operation jumped into action and started telling caucus–attendees that Carson was withdrawing, hoping to persuade them to not waste their vote and instead caucus for Cruz.
Spreading bad information was wrong and the Cruz campaign subsequently apologized. Now Trump is blasting Cruz for the mistake and claiming that Cruz “stole” votes from Carson. Trump tweeted (I’m with Cruz here, this serial angry tweeting is strange behavior for a grown man) “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.”
What’s so bizarre about all this is Trump’s short memory. Just a few weeks ago, Levin observed, Trump was bashing Carson over an anecdote in his biography that had the future doctor attempting to perform impromptu surgery with a knife on a friend during a heated argument.
Trump claimed Carson was mentally ill and suffered from a syndrome like that of a child molester. And if that wasn’t enough, Trump then attacked Carson for his religion.
So if Carson voters want to be mad at someone, it would seem to me that Trump’s invective, which he has not apologized for, would win out over Cruz’ mistake. Defending the doctor over Iowa really looks like too little, too late.
In the meantime, it might be useful if the Trump campaign gave their candidate a condensed summary of the past few week’s insults each morning so he doesn’t repeat any more of these hypocritical defenses.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.