One thing we know about Donald Trump without any question is that if he feels slighted, he will go on the attack. That is exactly what happened on Friday morning, less than 48 hours after his former rival for the GOP nomination, Ted Cruz, failed to endorse him at the Republican National Convention.
In early May, right after he had secured the nomination, Trump came out with one of his most outlandish conspiracy theories ever; that Cruz’s father Rafael, had met Lee Harvey Oswald and had in some way or other been involved in the JFK assassination. The uproar about that soon died down, lost in the next crazy thing that the GOP nominee said. But after Cruz dissed The Donald at the convention, Trump resurrected the claim.
At the opening of the clip below, Trump is talking about a risque photo of Melania featured in an ad by an anti-Trump super PAC. Trump had previously blamed that ad on Cruz and threatened to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife, Heidi. He compliments Mrs. Cruz, then continues by explaining why he believes the Texas senator was behind the ad. You might think at this point it would all be water under the bridge — Trump is the nominee, and Cruz will go back to being a slimy senator from Texas who is largely reviled by his colleagues. But Trump can’t let an insult, real or perceived, go unchallenged. And he wasn’t done with Cruz.
Trump pivots from the campaign ad to Cruz’s father. “I only met him once,” he says of the elder Cruz. “I think he’s a lovely guy.” Then comes this:
All I did was point out that on the cover of the National Enquirer there was a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast. Now, Ted never denied that it was his father. Instead he said, ‘Donald Trump!’
I had nothing to do with it!
Apparently fearful that his source might be questioned, Trump launches into a defense of the National Enquirer.
This was a magazine that frankly, in many respects, should be very respected. They got OJ, they got Edwards. If that was the New York Times, they would’ve gotten Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting. I’ve always said, ‘Why didn’t the National Enquirer get the Pulitzer Prize for Edwards, and OJ Simpson, and all of these things?’
While this is going on, the look on vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s face says it all. Remember Chris Christie’s “Colonel Nicholson” moment? (That’s a reference to the Alec Guinness character from Bridge On the River Kwai, who realizes that he has just helped the Japanese war effort, and says “What have I done?”) Pence looks like he just realized that Trump’s elevator doesn’t quite reach the top floor.
For the record, Vox points out in an excellent article that the National Enquirer piece Trump referenced is filled with speculation and assumptions. It all stems from a photo of Oswald taken on the street in New Orleans, with an unidentified man who bears a resemblance to a young Rafael Cruz seen with him.
So if you were thinking that now, post-primary, post-convention, when Trump no longer has to appeal to the crazies otherwise known as the GOP base, that he would suddenly become “presidential,” this should be your wake-up call. When you deal with The Donald, this is what you’re going to get.
Here are Trump’s remarks, via YouTube:
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