A rambling, 95-minute stump speech by 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this week in Iowa has some in media wondering whether the strain of campaigning is starting to wear on the businessman.
“Does everyone still think Trump is having fun after that performance last night? (Genuinely asking),” BuzzFeed’s Mckay Coppins asked.
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza asked, “Dare I ask: Is this the beginning of the end for The Donald?”
Politico’s Ben White, who attended the campaign rally, added on social media, “[Trump] did not seem like he was having fun last night. He seemed like someone looking for a way out.”
White described the scene in a write-up of the event: “The real estate billionaire, working without any kind of script or even a basic framework, launched into a rambling series of rants about illegal immigration punctuated by signing books, reading his own tweets, talking about his cuff links and telling often incomprehensible stories.”
“[H]e talked about his experience with Macy’s, though it was not clear why,” the Politico reporter added.
The Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson, who also attended the rally, said, “something was off.”
“The usually punctual executive was nearly 40 minutes late. His voice was hoarse, his hair mussed, his tone defensive. He promised to take questions from the audience but instead launched into a 95-minute-long rant that at times sounded like the monologue of a man grappling with why he is running for president — and if it’s really worth it or not,” she wrote.
She added, “Trump appeared to unravel on stage … At first, the audience was quick to laugh at Trump’s sharp insults and applaud his calls for better care for veterans, to replace the Affordable Care Act, and to construct a wall along the Mexican border. But as the speech dragged on, the applause came less often and grew softer.”
The disjointed speech involved an extended attack on 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson.
The retired neurosurgeon claims to have suffered from a “pathological temper” in his youth. Carson, who polls well in Iowa, said he later experienced a transformation, and that his relationship with Jesus Christ convinced him to pursue a career in medicine.
Trump said during his rally that there is no cure for “pathological disease,” tying Carson’s youthful temper to the mental conditions of child molesters. Those comments didn’t sit well with Trump’s audience.
“[T]he audience grew quiet, a few shaking their heads. A man sitting in the back of the auditorium loudly gasped,” Johnson reported.
The campaign event left media in agreement: Trump is in something of a personal tailspin.
“There’s no other way to describe this other than a complete meltdown, and if you watch the reaction of most of those sitting in the background it’s clear they’re not comfortable with it, either,” conservative talk radio host Steve Deace said in a Facebook post.
“This isn’t ‘Trump being Trump’ or ‘telling it like it is.’ This is conduct unbecoming of the highest office in the world. I highly doubt you build a multi-billion dollar, global conglomerate talking to people like this. If his goal was to hurt Ben Carson I suspect it will have the exact opposite impact,” he added.
White confirmed that the Iowa crowd “seemed mystified and uncomfortable with Trump’s crazy performance.”
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch declared Friday that, “Trump finally loses it, in 95 minute rant calls Carson’s character like a ‘child molester’!”
Citing Johnson’s report in the Post, Politico’s Glenn Thrush thought it noteworthy that the 69-year-old presidential candidate was “completely exhausted after few days on the road.”
Trump’s lack of political experience and the “rigors of campaign travel” may finally “be taking a toll” on the Republican candidate, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman suggested.
Former White House adviser and current CNN contributor David Axelrod also suggested that the “pressures of campaign apparently are making [Donald Trump] grate again.”
Carson’s campaign responded Friday morning to Trump’s rambling rally remarks by saying the retired doctor would pray for the billionaire.
“When I spoke with Dr. Carson about this yesterday how we should respond, you know he was so sad about it. He said: ‘Pray for him.’ He feels sorry for him because he really likes Mr. Trump,” Carson media surrogate Armstrong Williams said in a CNN interview.
“To see him just imploding before our very eyes — it’s just sad to watch,” Williams added.
