Oh, His Tone is Changing, They Say?

So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called “Trending”, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one. They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend. Really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2020

I know I keep saying this, but the pivot isn't coming. People thought back in 2016, at some point, Trump would stop dishing out red meat to the rubes and start behaving like a person who wanted to win a general election. He didn't pivot, and welp. So, after the election, he was gonna get serious once he was on the job, and behave presidentially. Welp. And now he is saying mean hashtags on Twitter are not just "very unfair!" but illegal. Sure. All bad news about him is "fake news" and all bad polls are "rigged".

So when I see any story that suggests he's got a "new tone", let's take that with a grain, it better include, as the link does, that that new tone is probably about re-election and his discovery that "his people" are also getting it. (Let's just not take it with a grain of hydroxychloroquine, which the newly-serious Trump has been retweeting links about this evening. It still hasn't demonstrated any proven effectiveness and has serious side effects, including death.) He wants to appear serious and concerned, but let's not confuse that for actually being that way.

In other news, Trump apparently announced that he would throw out the first pitch at a Yankees game because he was jealous of Dr. Anthony Fauci....and there was no such event ever planned.

“Randy Levine is a great friend of mine from the Yankees,” Mr. Trump, referring to the president of the baseball team, told reporters on Thursday as Dr. Fauci was preparing to take the mound. “And he asked me to throw out the first pitch, and I think I’m doing that on Aug. 15 at Yankee Stadium.”

There was one problem: Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff.

But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. No date was ever finalized.

That seems a little weird, doesn't it? I wonder how that kind of thing polls with the boaters. Yes, I said "boaters":

According to two people who’ve been in the room when Trump has fixated on the issue, the president has repeatedly stressed that “boaters”—MAGA fans who join in on pro-Trump flotillas, with ships adorned with Trump and Mike Pence banners and gear—are a shining exemplar of the enthusiasm gap he enjoys over Biden. He has delighted in advisers showing him boater photos and videos that have bubbled up on social media. And during strategy sessions in the past two months, he’s told officials to keep bringing him more and to push out the content on their own accounts, as well.

He lives in his own little world where doing things like pretending to throw out a first pitch or impressing people with boats matters, and actually doing his job well or respectfully does not. So when you consider things like his not planning on stopping by to pay his respects to Rep. John Lewis, keep in mind that he isn't wanted at certain funerals or weddings because of who he is, what he says, how he behaves.

There is far more wrong with him than merely "tone."

UPDATE: See also Parker Molloy's very good coverage of the last five years of journos pretending Trump is doing something he is most certainly incapable of.