'Walking into a trap': Analyst says Obama ‘goaded’ Trump into taking Harris' bait
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton used the Democratic National Convention stage to lay bait that lured Donald Trump into a trap, a CNN analyst said Monday.
Harris used her speech to change tactics away from President Joe Biden’s focus on the GOP’s threat to the nation, and instead took aim at Trump for being “an unserious man,” Stephen Collinson wrote.
The addresses by the ex-presidents in the nights before Harris closed the convention were designed to goad Trump into proving her point, he wrote.
“Her tone shift involved former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lampooning their fellow ex-president as a figure of ridicule,” Collinson wrote.
“Then Harris closed the trap with a line in her convention speech: ‘Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences … of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.’
“In hindsight, the ex-presidents seemed to be goading Trump into a reaction that would validate the second part of Harris’ statement. And, as usual, he delivered, with his frantic social media posts during her speech.”
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Collinson was referencing attacks from both Obama and Clinton that elicited reactions from Trump — both on Truth Social in posts he made in real-time as she spoke, and in a speech he gave afterward.
Though many Trump camp insiders are reportedly urging him to stick to focusing on policy, he has proved unwilling to do that, instead continuing to trade in personal insults and complain about Democrats criticizing him, Collinson wrote.
"One reason those advisers are concerned is that the former president is walking into a trap," the columnist wrote. "Sure, Trump’s rage and revolt helped him win the 2016 election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But his cultivation of chaos contributed to his disastrous management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which contributed to his being booted out of office after a single term."
In a speech in Arizona Friday, the day after Harris' address, “In a mocking voice, Trump said, “They say to me, ‘Sir … please stick to policy, don’t stick to personality. You should be nice to people, sir.’” He went on, “I call them up, my geniuses, they get paid a fortune — actually not that much … but I call up my people and say, ‘They are knocking the hell out of me and you say I shouldn’t get personal,'" Collinson reported.
"'But I am going to do my best.'’”