Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has struggled on many fronts, but there’s one question the Republican and his team have barely attempted to answer: Why have so many top officials from the former president’s team publicly condemned him? Why would Americans support a candidate who cannot even earn the support of those Trump has hand-picked to work side by side with him?
The Republican candidate has, true to form, largely relied on schoolyard taunts and nasty name-calling. Trump has taken aim in recent days at his former White House chief of staff, condemning retired four-star general John Kelly as a “total whack job,” a “crazy” and a “stone-cold loser.”
This was predictable, of course, but it does not answer the underlying questions about the scope and magnitude of the condemnations the Republican candidate has received from those who worked closely with him.
As it turns out, Trump’s current running mate apparently has some thoughts on the matter. Politico reported:
In a controversial interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, vice presidential candidate JD Vance downplayed former Trump officials’ warnings about fascism as mere policy differences.
To his credit, Tapper has invested quite a bit of time on this point, and the Ohio Republican presented several possible ideas — all of which were incredibly unconvincing.
“Why doesn’t John Kelly support Donald Trump? It’s about policy,” the senator said. “It’s not about personality.”
As it turns out, we already know that this was the opposite of the truth. Kelly even explicitly said in his interview last week with The New York Times that he often agrees with his former boss on policy issues. Nevertheless, the retired general condemned fascism and Trump’s positive comments about Adolf Hitler.
So Vance tried a different topic of conversation. “Do you know one reason why Kamala Harris doesn’t have that many people criticizing her? [It’s] because she doesn’t fire people who fail,” the Ohioan said, adding, “Donald Trump is firing them. And I would much rather the president fire people who screw up.”
That is also wrong. Many of those who have condemned Trump or withheld support for his candidacy — former Vice President Mike Pence, retired General Mark Milley, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, et al. were not fired. The idea that theydissatisfied“Former employees who lashed out at the boss who showed them the door would be more convincing if that had actually happened. But that didn’t happen.
But this line of inquiry culminated in a particularly memorable exchange.
Tapper: So all ten of those people, including Mike Pence, are all going after Donald Trump because they want to send people to war? That’s your argument? pic.twitter.com/ZhjtPueKea
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 26, 2024
Tapper asked the Republican party’s vice presidential candidate: “So all ten of those people, including former Vice President Mike Pence, all have a terribly damaged worldview, and they’re all going after Donald Trump because they want to send people into war ? Is that really your argument?”
Vance responded, “Absolutely, that’s my argument.” He added: “All the people, Jake, came into power thinking they could control Donald Trump.”
The host quickly interjected and asked, “Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?”
“Yes, he did,” Vance replied, prompting Tapper to laugh out loud, which was the entirely appropriate response given the absurdity of the underlying claim.
Look, I’m not unsympathetic. If I were in Vance’s shoes, I wouldn’t know how to answer these questions either. It is deeply humiliating for Trump and his political operation that so many people who worked with the Republican in the White House now view him as dangerous to the future of the country – a list that is growing, by the way – creating a dynamic never before seen in American politics has been seen. . It obviously raises questions that are impossible to answer convincingly.
But that didn’t make Vance’s answers any less pathetic.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
