One of the abiding narratives of the 2024 campaign is that Donald Trump is a remarkably better candidate than in his 2016 and 2020 runs. Barrels of digital ink have been spilled in recent months, hailing the new, more “disciplined” and “strategic” Trump.

Sure, there is a modicum of truth to this narrative. Trump staying off Twitter to prop up his Ponzi scheme/social media allowed him to hide his most insane utterances from the broader public. Trump still says weird, creepy things like praising famous, fictional cannibals like Hannibal Lecter. However, he mostly avoids self-immolation. Nothing focuses the mind like the possibility of prison. 

The myth of the newer, more disciplined Trump came to an end yesterday when he lost his marbles on stage during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.

During the interview, Trump was hostile and incoherent. He lied and rambled. The interview went so poorly that his campaign ended the interview early, something that rarely happens at an in-person event. In one of his worst moments, Trump falsely questioned Vice President Harris’s racial identity. Trump gave this answer when asked whether he agreed with the Republicans who have called Harris a “DEI candidate:”

I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black? I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she went — she became a Black person … I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black.

This is offensive and patently false. Harris went to a historically Black college — something the moderator pointed out, but Trump ignored. In college, Harris was a member of a historically Black sorority and when she was in the Senate she was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

During the interview, Trump also failed to defend the January 6th rioters and his vice presidential pick. The interview was a disaster, and a long-overdue reminder of Trump’s manifest flaws as a candidate.

While it’s fair to question my life choices, my job(s) require me to watch nearly every one of Trump’s public appearances. I suffer through the two-hour rallies (on 1.75x speed) and force myself to watch Trump’s nauseatingly sycophantic interviews on Fox News. I see Trump act like a buffoon all the time, but most of America never sees Trump. His bad moments never supplement their media diets. Unfortunately for Trump, this was a particularly bad moment and fortunately for America, it happened when it might just hurt him more than his normal shenanigans.

Trump is Scared… of Kamala Harris

While the whole New Trump thing is way overstated, it’s been a very long time since he has imploded in public like he did yesterday. Trump lost his shit for one reason — he’s scared of Kamala Harris...