In a column for the Washington Post, conservative Jennifer Rubin surveyed Donald Trump's meltdown before the press on Monday, storming off after being grilled by two female journalists, and suggested that the combination of "rotten" poll numbers and the prospect of losing the November election may have pushed him over the edge.
According to the columnist, Trump's frustration with reporters -- combined with the massive flurry of tweets the president is pushing out -- are warning signs.
"President Trump seems to have taken his paranoia to a whole new level. He has reverted to accusing President Barack Obama of some unexplained crime. And he stalked out of a White House press appearance on Monday following confrontations with two female reporters. (Notice it’s the women who really get under his skin and flummox him)," Rubin wrote before adding, "Trump’s frenzied rage-tweeting on everything from 'psycho' Joe Scarborough to false claims of 96 percent approval from Republicans to swipes at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ('Crazy Nancy would be a total disaster, and the USA will never be a Communist Country!') evidences a whole new level of emotional disturbance or panic."
As she noted, the cause for all of this likely lies in the numbers he is seeing that show him losing to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
"One major reason for his break from reality could well be his rotten polling and growing, unavoidable evidence that his reelection campaign is in deep trouble," she wrote while also noting the president is doing poorly with seniors -- a highly important demographic that can be counted on to turn out for elections.
"So which came first," Rubin suggested, "Trump’s accelerating emotional tailspin or the terrible polling, leading to heightened concern that he is heading for defeat? Actually, both have their origin in the undeniable reality that Trump has utterly failed to combat the worst domestic crisis in a hundred years."
Trump's "penchant for denying unpleasant facts, aversion to experts, self-absorption, dearth of empathy and utter incompetence allowed the virus to fester and spread."
Adding that the president wants to "open the economy" at a time when the coronavirus is starting to rear its head in Trump country, she added, "The new hot spots are in states such as Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas and Tennessee. The Trump approach is killing those in his strongest base of support. No wonder his temper tantrums have become more intense."
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