Trump’s campaign against himself working for Biden

President Donald

Trump seems to be running so utterly against himself now that it’s almost unnecessary for

Joe Biden to do much, which partly explains his many (helpful) months in his bunker.

It’s not as though Americans need to get to know Biden, who has been in public office since he had baby teeth. Nor, for that matter, do we need any more exposure to Trump. Still, the upcoming debates (Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22) may reveal qualities or defects that only face-to-face combat can expose. Then again, voting starts in some states next week and those showdowns are nearly a month away.

Both Trump and

Biden have lately offered glimpses into their pregame psyches during (for Trump) an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, and (for Biden) a short speech about the police killings and subsequent destruction of private property in some cities. While Biden said all the right things at the right time, Trump said all the wrong things, as is his instinct and custom. Biden has a thick tongue most days, but Trump’s is made of tin.

The president undoubtedly expected to play softball with Ingraham, who has been a quasi-adviser to the White House for the past few years. But Ingraham is no one’s best friend when the camera rolls. She pushed back when Trump began speaking in white code about bad people who live in the shadows and pull Biden’s strings.

Ingraham: “What does that mean? That sounds like conspiracy theory, dark shadows. What is that?”

Trump: “They’re people that are on the streets. They’re people that are controlling the streets. We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that. They are on a plane.”

That made me wonder: What? Who’s on what plane? And black uniforms? Were they ninjas? Art gallery owners? Publishing executives? Sounds like everyday New Yorkers in their native garb.

Things got interesting when the subject turned to female voters, who are now, by and large, so lopsidedly against Trump that he is trying to scare them into voting against Biden. “They talk about the suburban woman,” Trump said, though he did not say who the “they” were who had been talking to him about them. “They want security. They want safety. They have to have safety.” So Trump blamed the protests and the riots on Biden even though, wait for it, Biden isn’t the president and has been living in his basement most of the year.

Who is in control? “People you’ve never heard of,” Trump told Ingraham.

Trump even likened the problem of disproportionate police violence against Black and Brown citizens to getting the yips in golf. Trump said that cops sometimes “choke — shooting the guy in the back many times,” likening it to a good golfer missing a three-foot putt. Simple as that.

Where the president can’t get through a friendly interview without dropping ridiculous, racist, conspiracy bombs, Biden can afford to tickle his own funny bone and muse to his audience: “Hey, do I look like a radical socialist who has a soft spot for riots? Really?”

I suppose it could be amusing were Trump to say, “Come on, do I look like a racist authoritarian with a soft spot for fascists?”

Why, come to think of it, Mr. President, yes you do.