About a month after launching his first Republican presidential campaign, Donald Trump decided to go after then-Sen. Lindsey Graham in a decidedly Trumpian way. The South Carolina Republican had positioned himself as the party’s most aggressive anti-Trump voice, and the future president decided to respond to the criticisms by giving out Graham’s cellphone number during a public event.

Five years later, he pulled a similar stunt, targeting a Republican state lawmaker in Michigan who didn’t want to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. True to form, Trump screwed it up and accidentally gave out the wrong phone number, at which point a private citizen received thousands of angry calls and messages that were meant for someone else.

Over the weekend, the president turned to the same tactic once again. MS NOW reported:

President Donald Trump took a sundown fight with Sen. Tom Cotton public on Saturday.

The president posted on social media what appeared to be the Arkansas Republican’s cell phone number, expressing anger over the senator’s opposition to legislation making daylight saving time permanent.

There’s a bill called the Sunshine Protection Act, which would cement daylight saving time and end the twice-annual practice of changing the clocks. The bill passed the House in July, but it’s stalled in the Senate, in large part because Cotton has stood in the way of an effort to fast-track the process.

The president supports the proposal — in recent days, he’s insisted it would be good for golfers and tennis players, among others — while Cotton has made the case that similar efforts in years past were failures that soon after needed to be reversed.

In theory, Trump, who has repeatedly claimed to be a world-class dealmaker despite his actual record, could bring the Arkansas Republican into the White House for a policy discussion, in the hopes of working out some kind of substantive deal.

In practice, the president apparently prefers online harassment.

On Saturday morning, Trump published an item to his social media platform, giving out the senator’s phone number. A few hours later, the president published a follow-up item, making the case that Cotton is focused on his “ego” and failing to put “Arkansas first.”

Late Saturday afternoon, Trump briefly chatted with reporters at the White House and was asked why he gave out Cotton’s number.

“We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of, twice a year, turning your clocks back, turning your clocks forward, being late for dinner, being late for very important meetings. It’s ridiculous,” he replied, adding, “Tom Cotton is holding it. He shouldn’t be holding it. It’s an issue that people want.”

In other words, the president wants a bill; the senator opposes it; therefore, the president feels justified in publicly harassing the senator.

Putting aside the underlying question on the merits of the legislation, what this incident offers is a timely reminder of an underappreciated detail: 11 years into his political career and nearly six years into his presidency, Trump still has no idea how to work with Congress.

Sen. John Kennedy was asked about the developments during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and the Louisiana Republican conceded that the president “can go from zero to a-hole in about three seconds.” But as part of the same exchange, Kennedy added, “I don’t think he should have given out Tom’s cell phone number. I don’t think that’s going to help convince Tom.”

And therein lies the point. Trump engaged in some online bullying as part of an apparent effort to change Cotton’s mind, but the president doesn’t seem to understand that this doesn’t work — ever. It’s not as if a sitting senator with a firm policy position is going to say, “Well, I was opposed to a bill, but now that Trump doxxed me, I guess I have no choice but to change direction.”

What we’re left with, in other words, is the president picking a pointless fight with an intraparty ally one month before Cotton faces voters on Election Day, which is every bit as foolish as it sounds.

The post With offensive against Tom Cotton, Trump picks the wrong fight at the wrong time appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.