Candidate Meltdowns

I have witnessed 3

First let me be clear, depression is real and needs treatment. If you know people who need help, please help them get it. These are observations from my past…that reflect on and inform my personal opinion about today’s POTUS campaign and election.

From my experiences working on political campaigns in the 1980’s and 90’s I believe that Donald Trump is headed toward a complete meltdown. He’s at least 1/2 way there, maybe 75%. His mental world is getting smaller by the day.

I started out working on City Council and Mayors races and worked up to US Congress across those 20 years. My position was usually “hired gun” video producer and sometimes speech and interview consultant. This was “seasonal” work as most of my video work was for corporations and non-profits.

Some was pro bono…some was VERY well paid.

(Roscoe read books to my 3 year old daughter the first time we met…he never melted down…and he really understands climate change…he now lives off the grid. )

It was “seasonal” but intense. For all of these candidates it was like life and death for them. During those campaigns winning was all that mattered. It was a daily chess game…bloodless war. I enjoyed the challenge of it.

The two “small” meltdowns I witnessed were both candidates for State Senate. One in PA, one in MD. Neither of these meltdowns was reported in the local media and to this day are probably not widely know, as both candidates won…and neither was blithering like Trump in public. They were both late term meltdowns…just a few days before the elections. ( my professional guess is that there have been hundreds, maybe thousands of these around the US in the past 40-50 years since TV and now social media have became so important )

There came a point when their campaign managers called me and said…we have a problem. Joe (not the name) can’t be in public or talk with the press. We have to cover for a few days. Neither of these people were bad guys…they both were good constituent elected reps and had been elected multiple times. In his last election, one had run unopposed and gotten 100% of the vote. They were both VERY popular and not in close elections…but the stress got to them and they could not function. These were VERY depressed people. If they had crashed a month sooner…I’m not sure they could have won or should have.

#3 was different. He was a one term Mayor of a town 60 miles from DC. Again he was a nice guy…not the brightest…but far from stupid. He was doing a competent job. The election was 2 months away and the Mayor was 20 points ahead of his opponent. This campaign wasn’t close enough to need any TV ads, so I wasn’t really very involved.

Then the Mayor went MIA. No one seemed to know where he was. Maybe fishing…he had a nice boat…?? and he was way ahead in the polls.

But it went on for about a week to 10 days…and his campaign manager who was not a pro but an old crony of his…did not know how to manage things. It became an international story about the missing mayor. The rumors were rampant…he stole money…he ran away with a stripper… and this was pre social media…today it would have been the lead on Inside Edition and Politico and all of the rest would have been all over it.

Total Media circus. Thank god this was before everyone could easily do live remotes.

The chairman of the state party saw the story in USA today in Israel…we got a call. Find out what’s going on and get a handle on this….now.

His campaign people fessed up to us. He was “resting” at John’s Hopkins in Baltimore. Well that was code for he was admitted to the psyche ward as an in-patient.

The stress of possibly losing his coveted job, just put him in a tail spin. Now this is a mature human being who as far as I know, never told a lie to his constituents. This was an honest man…whose fear of losing…unraveled him. This was not a close race. His fear totally changed all of that.

Someone…not me…suggested that we video record a statement from him, to show on local TV that he was ok and would be back after some MUCH needed R&R. We agreed to do that. His wife, who I liked a lot…she was a nice lady…agreed to this plan. We set a time and the place was a Holiday Inn room across the street from the hospital.

I expected the wife and maybe another aid or 2 to be there. There were at least a dozen family members in the 2 bedroom, non smoking room…from infants to 70 year olds. We did some small talk with the candidate…he was obviously medicated. We set up the camera and lights…and when he was ready we rolled tape. There was no teleprompter and at this point I don’t remember if there bullet points on a cue card..or if he just vamped.

We did one take, about 1 to 2 minutes long. I asked for a second take…as a backup…and we did not get one. That was it. The conversations on the ride home were “animated” to say the least. I had NEVER seen, nor done anything remotely like this.

The local TV station aired it as I gave it to them. I don’t think “Joe” ever returned to the campaign trail…if he did it was very near the end. He lost by 20 points.

From my POV and experience, from all of the reporting and in his own words I think the Donald is headed in that direction. Now he’s got Elon and JD and and a host of other people whose political careers are tied to Trump/Team MAGA?Project 2025 winning this election to front for him and try to muddy the picture up.

But if DJT goes totally batshit crazy in public, middle America is not going to vote for that…MAGA will…but the middle ground wants stability and sanity.

Donald needs to totally blow up in plain sight, where it cannot be denied. Folks have to witness it with their own eyes. I had empathy for the candidates from my past. They were not “unfit” to serve. I have VERY little empathy for Trump. He does not deserve it. My hope is that DJT is his own worst enemy…and that his stress wins this battle. His identity is so tied to winning and being POTUS again…not to mention his survival from countless charges and convictions…The stress of being inside of his head is worthy of a Shakespearean stage….”to be.. or not….to be…”

This is MUCH better drama than “House of Cards”….and that was pretty good. This is Donald’s real unscripted reality show that’s way better than the Apprentice.

The ratings will be through the roof.

This does not mean take your foot off of the gas…keep pushing and working

and I do hope that Don gets some real help at some point….just not right now… He needs it.

We just can’t afford for him to be POTUS again.

Peace.