Raining On His Parade of Lies

     It's no secret that Donald Trump really, really hates female journalists. Just recently, he bullied CNN's Kaitlan Collins for not smiling. Earlier this year, he attacked Maggie Haberman of the Times and threatened to sue her and the paper. And, while I don't consider them journalists, he's even attacked Megyn Kelly and insulted Laura Ingraham when she tried to give him a rare dose of reality. Does "Quiet, Piggy" ring a bell?

     And then there was his aborted interview with Meet The Press's Kristen Welker.

     As rain pelted the metal roof of a barn at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Welker tried to do her job as Trump defaulted to his usual boorish behavior consisting of impatient interruptions, blatant lies, talking over people and spewing a nonstop fire hose of lies. The conversation turned to the recent California primary elections.

     Trump pounced on the fact that California is still counting its mail in ballots, which shouldn't surprise anyone considering California is the most populous state, one with 39.5 million people. Trump declared it as evidence of a "rigged election" without, of course, providing any proof. 

     "You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your elections are crooked and you're crooked, and 'Meet the Press' is crooked. You're a one-sided crooked network." Then he announced that he was terminating the interview.

     This is a tried-and-true tactic by Trump when he finally meets that rare journalist who won't accept his lies or take his insults. He did the same thing to Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes five and a half years ago. He cuts and runs like a guy with fake bone spurs trying to evade the draft.

     But it was how he got up to walk away. After calling Welker, "Darling"  as if he was in Mad Men episode, he lurched to his feet and put his right hand on her left shoulder as if to steady himself. Then he lumbered off with his back bent at nearly a 45 degree angle. It was almost a reprise of the so-called White House Correspondence Dinner shooting in which Trump had to be lifted to his feet by the Secret Service only for him to fall seconds later like a 300 pound sack of manure.

     Once again, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.

     The whole spectacle exposed Trump as a weak, snarling fool. It's one thing to take pot shots at the press when a journalist is just trying to do their job countering lies and conspiracy theories. But Trump will be 80 in a week and his age shows. When Trump insults the media and specific journalists and can barely lumber off after cutting short an interview, it makes him look feeble and pathetic.