Trump’s Crisis Playbook: Admit No Wrong
To some admitting that you are wrong or issuing an apology is a sign of weakness, but to the self-selected denizens of Alphaville, it’s tantamount to admitting that you aren’t fit to be at the top, perhaps that you aren’t even fit to live. That’s where the Donald finds himself at: nearing the cliff’s edge that his followers and his bombastic lies have pursued him to.
An honest candidate with great leadership skills could pull off the “no apology” bit. However Donald can’t succeed at it because he is totally lacking in social grace and leadership skills, and coupling those missing traits with his perpetual lies and numerous mistakes makes him a Velcro mess, not a shiny Reaganesque Teflon King.
Indeed, in parlance he might understand: He’s no Alpha, he’s no beta, he’s no daisy at all. Sorry to break it to you Trump supporters: he’s not the second coming of Reagan after all.
Donald Trump’s suggestion that “Second Amendment people” could prevent Hillary Clinton from nominating judges, should she be elected, set off a new firestorm in the presidential race — but a familiar one, too, for Trump’s response.
Rather than correct his comments — which to some suggested a threat of gun violence — or express culpability for any misunderstanding, the celebrity businessman has instead dug in, insisting “dishonest media” misconstrued his meaning.
“I mean, give me a break,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “What it is, is there’s a tremendous power behind the Second Amendment. It’s a political power, and there are few things so powerful, I have to say, in terms of politics.”
Trump has not explicitly clarified that he did not intend to encourage violent acts, but such a clarification would also be highly unusual: In Donald Trump’s crisis playbook, there is no page on second-guessing, no instructions on walking back.