Another day, another venomous late night tweet war instigated by Donald Trump. Angry over an independent, non-Cruz-affiliated Super PAC's Facebook ad featuring a borderline-pornographic photo of his wife from the British edition of GQ magazine, Trump blamed the situation on Cruz and threatened Cruz's wife -- likely a reference to her decade-old battle with depression. Cruz has denounced the ad, calling it "completely inappropriate." To be clear, it had nothing to do with the Texas Senator's campaign, and 'Make America Awesome' is not even a Cruz-linked SuperPAC, a fact over which Trump ally Sean Hannity corrected himself last night:
Earlier I said a pro-Cruz PAC pushed the Melania ad. Incorrect, the group has no affiliation with Cruz & as I said, Cruz condemned it
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 24, 2016
Before Trump launched his next repellent salvo in this online war, I discussed round one on Megyn Kelly's program. When my Trump-defending debate partner demanded to know how I'd have advised Trump to handle these circumstances, my answer was pretty simple. He should absolutely have defended his wife, targeted the people who ran the ad, and not directed his misplaced fury at the wrong guy's wife in the form of ugly, threatening innuendo (via Right Sightings):
Within hours of that segment airing, Trump retweeted an image that essentially calls Heidi Cruz ugly:
"@Don_Vito_08: "A picture is worth a thousand words" @realDonaldTrump #LyingTed #NeverCruz @MELANIATRUMP pic.twitter.com/5bvVEwMVF8"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2016
Cruz responded minutes later with a message about authentic manliness:
Donald, real men don't attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life. https://t.co/pprXhIMzUT
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 24, 2016
Donald Trump has a low class temperament and the impulse control of an adolescent boy. His numbers among women are already terrible. Between his bizarre Megyn Kelly obsession ("bimbo," "crazy," "blood coming out of her wherever") the Carly Fiorina episode ("look at that face"), and his long history of disparaging remarks, there is every reason to believe that he'll have a major women problem in the fall if he's the nominee. As he should. I'll leave you with a reminder that Trump's appalling schtick isn't playing with general election voters, to put it mildly:
Bloomberg poll: Trump negative rating 68% (53% "very unfavorable") & trails Hillary by 18 pts. #TrumpTrainwreck https://t.co/gYU2iP5B8I
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 23, 2016