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Thursday open thread: He just can't help himself


Well, it happened.

Hillary Clinton famously said that we can't have a president in office whom one can bait with a tweet. Donald Trump is a roiling mass of insecurity and reptile brain responses. He has no higher cognition. He lashes out at whomever attacks him, with no forethought or strategy.

President Joe Biden, stumping for Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe in his gubernatorial race, mocked Trump. He was there for Terry, putting his capital up for his election. But where was Trump? Why didn't McAuliffe's GOP opponent, Glenn Youngkin, invite the putative leader of his party to campaign for him? 

That mockery did it. Trump will now be heading to Virginia in the weekend before Election Day to campaign for Youngkin.

This is the last thing Youngkin needs. In the final days before voting, suddenly Trump will be front and center in the minds of Virginia voters. This is a state which went by a healthy margin for Pres. Biden. 

For an old, doddering fool, Pres. Biden sure knows how to push the Orange Julius' buttons. I still think the Democratic slate will win by a comfortable margin once the votes are counted. But having a walking case of political syphilis out in the hustings for his opponent will be the frosting on the cake. Virginians will be reminded "Oh, yeah, Youngkin is Trump's man." That's not a good thing in a state which is becoming solidly Democratic.

Of course, all the usual caveats. The results aren't in, anything could happen, yadda yadda yadda. But we were here in 2017, and in 2013, when the GOP candidates were being pumped up by the likes of the New York Times and the Washington Post, only to lose in humiliating fashion. As our own Trevor wrote, the utility of political polling is in question. Pollsters no longer know how to poll. The electorate is too disparate to find a methodology which will return accurate results. But if we go by the previous two elections, I'd rather be McAuliffe than Youngkin. The difference between 2017 and 2021 is that we had four years of Trump. That won't elude voters' minds.

Trump will give one of his crazed performances, and remind voters about why they're voting. A man you can bait with a tweet, or a joke, is not a man you want anywhere near you.

Send Terry some love if you can: Terry for Virginia.

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Update

As of 7.32pm PDT on 27 October, 2021. In the words of the great Gilda Radner: NEVER MIND.


***

Evening update

Oh come on, man!
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