Maggie Haberman noted Thursday that Donald Trump’s so-called “discipline” in response to President Joe Biden’s terrible debate performance is over.
A New York Times correspondent shared a screenshot of Trump’s July 4 rant on X (formerly Twitter), joking that “Trump was trying to be disciplined, quiet and unfocused amid the Democrats’ problems,” and posted it to his Truth Social platform.
In a blistering tirade over the holidays, Trump said Biden “choked like a dog” during the debate, called him “very incompetent,” and baselessly accused Biden of using prosecutors to attack political opponents.
Trump also attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, the leading contender to succeed Biden if he drops out of the race, calling her “Laffin’ Kamala Harris.”
Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department official who served as the committee’s attorney, responded to Haberman’s post on January 6, noting that Trump “didn’t even last 72 hours.”
He linked to an article on Sunday in which Trump called for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to be put on a televised military trial and several other high-ranking officials to be jailed.
Several reports and commentators have described Trump’s post-debate behavior as unusually restrained, measured and disciplined. “Instead of taking a victory lap, Trump took a low-key stance,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
But Trump has continued to post regularly on Truth Social since Thursday’s tragedy, including many attacks on Biden.
On Tuesday, Trump falsely declared that he had achieved “complete immunity” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s surprising immunity ruling. In another post, he called Biden’s debate performance “not very good” and said his performance was “the best in the history of presidential debates.” He also reposted a meme depicting Biden sleeping on a beach chair on the debate stage, and included mocking remarks about the president.
