Trump debate debacle should sink him: Jill Lawrence

Let’s stipulate that Donald Trump is different in private than in public. But, as Hillary Clinton once said in another context, what difference does it make?

None.

The public Trump is so excruciatingly and patently unpresidential that it’s disqualifying no matter what goes on behind the scenes, or how many times he can temporarily demonstrate impulse control on the campaign trail or debate stage.

I admit to being morbidly curious about which Trump would prevail at the first presidential debate. The answer: After a few minutes of Teleprompter Donald, he settled into his comfort zone of reflexive, quick-draw responses that for any other candidate would be ill-advised and possibly fatal.

Poor Jerry Ford. All he did in 1976 was say there was no Soviet domination of Poland, when what he really meant was we’d never accept that as permanent. Poor Al Gore. All he did in 2000 was sigh and roll his eyes and say lockbox a few too many times.

Those debate moments spelled doom for two experienced politicians. Trump had a moment like that when he said to Clinton, “You’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.” “Fact-checkers, get to work,” Clinton responded, no doubt well aware that she is 68 years old and ISIS is 12.

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In fact Trump had countless moments Monday night that were as bad as what happened to Ford and Gore, or worse. He also went deep on his vision of America as a stupid, weak global loser.

If this race continues to be tight, he should win some kind of interstellar Teflon award, maybe lifetime achievement for turning bleakness into a winning political hand. And yet nobody in their right mind would ever predict the decline of the Donald. Not after what he’s survived so far.

Look what happened to Mitt Romney when he said he liked to fire people and disparaged “the 47%” of Americans he said were dependent on government and paid no income taxes (a group that happens to include veterans, seniors, children, students, the sick, the disabled and the working poor).

Now consider that when Clinton accused Trump of rooting for the housing crisis that precipitated the Great Recession and hardship or ruin for millions of Americans, he interjected, “That's called business.” When she mentioned an architect who had designed a clubhouse for him, one of many people she said had been stiffed by him and his business, Trump replied: “Maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work.” And when she cited tax returns showing he hadn't paid any federal income taxes, Trump retorted, "That makes me smart."

Clinton seemed to hit pretty much every point that one would guess she had hoped to make against Trump, and sometimes she even did it with humor. One example: When she repeated her convention speech tweak that a man you can bait with a tweet shouldn’t be entrusted with nuclear weapons, Trump said the line was getting old. “It’s a good one, though,” Clinton shot back. “It well describes the problem.”

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You’d think a major party nominee would want to disprove that taunt, but not Trump. Before the debate he could not restrain himself when billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted that he had gotten a front-row seat to watch Clinton overwhelm Trump at their first debate, in his words “the humbling at Hofstra.”

“If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!” Trump tweeted. Yes, the Republican nominee really did insult a fellow reality-TV star whose show did not last and tried to psych out his Democratic opponent by bringing up her husband’s long-ago mistress.

After more than a year of “I can’t believe he said that” moments, the Flowers tweet still had shock value. We’re not inured yet, though we should be. It’s not like Trump is hiding his philosophy of politics. It’s clear from his words that he views the campaign as reality TV and himself as the talent.

Because of his big crowds, “it is always hot when I perform,” he said at a rally this month. A day later he refused to say whether President Obama was born in the United States because “we have to keep the suspense going.” It was all about the cliffhanger and the ratings and keeping the spotlight on him.

Months of exposure to the free-associating, wildly offensive off-teleprompter Trump make it hard to swallow as genuine the Trump who is relatively conventional when he has a teleprompter and manages to stick to it. He fell somewhere between those extremes Monday night. The performance, more showman than statesman, was far from reassuring

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter @JillDLawrence.

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