There should be a word that combines “absurdly” and “tragically” — “absurgically?” It’s hard to be more absurgically wrong than I was when I wrote this:
[Also published at Huffington Post.] If only because Donald Trump says there’s a “zero percent” chance he’ll do it, I’d expect him to drop out of the presidential race. Since about three-quarters of what he says has been shown to be false, it’s a pretty good bet even blindfolded.
But in plain sight are other, more substantive reasons:
- Party leaders desperately wish they could fire him, but can’t. His quitting is their only out.
- He’s a raging narcissist, facing one of the most crushing humiliations in American history. He won’t be able to see that through.
- Despite his pose as the ultimate winner, he frequently fails. And when he does, he always blames others.
- And finally, showing concern for his family — especially a daughter he has leered overand a wife he has boasted of betraying — may at this point be the only sympathetic move he can possibly make.