There are two people in the world capable of sending Donald Trump into a spittle-flinging rage spiral: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who represents a strong female who can’t be bullied by Trump’s behavior, and Mark Cuban, a billionaire who represents the kind of success Trump desperately wishes he had. Cuban will be sitting just a few feet away from Trump at the first debate.
In a mind game masterstroke, the Clinton campaign and Cuban decided to put him front-and-center for the television event because it would almost assuredly get under Trump’s skin. The bar for Trump is so low that many pundits have argued that if Trump can simply show up to the debate and not lose his mind, he will “win.” Cuban’s presence combined with Trump’s lack of impulse control will make that nearly impossible.
Indeed already signs of Trump’s cracking psyche are showing. Two days before the debate even begins, Trump lost his mind when he found out about Cuban’s plan. On Twitter, the Republican nominee for president threw a hissy fit that included one of the most childish comebacks ever.
If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2016
After calling Cuban, who is orders of magnitude richer than Trump, a “failure,” the Republican nominee threatened to bring Gennifer Flowers to the debate. (Naturally, he spelled her name wrong, before hastily deleting the tweet and remaking it with the correct spelling.) To give people a sense of just how desperate Trump is, Flowers was Bill Clinton’s mistress in the early 1990s and has absolutely nothing to do with Hillary Clinton or her campaign.
Needless to say, nobody thought Trump’s reaction was a good look. It’s exactly the kind of mentally unstable behavior that makes the case that Trump should never be allowed to hold office.
Trump is so into dominance & humiliation, he doesn't realize that reminding people of Bill Clinton's infidelities makes HRC sympathetic https://t.co/z0Eqw1UWej
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) September 24, 2016
Hey @mcuban - nice job, I think this already worked. https://t.co/l5e9l6rPka
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) September 24, 2016
Already rattled. https://t.co/GihxFTYf5Q
— Dean Barker (@deanbarker) September 24, 2016
If Trump’s reaction so far is any indication, Mark Cuban’s presence at the debate could be a game changer.
UPDATE: Trump is exposed as a liar. Again.
Spoke to Flowers' assistant, said she's not interested in being sideshow in past but will pass along the invite https://t.co/KD5C9LvS06
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 24, 2016
UPDATE 2: Strike that…
Wow! Gennifer Flowers has agreed to join Trump for the debate. Her assistant tells me.
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 24, 2016
Welp…
Featured image via Sara D. Davis/Getty Images
