In 2024, if Donald Trump wins the GOP nomination, he won't just be running against Joe Biden.
No, I'm not talking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, or any other third party candidates. Believe it or not, there's another candidate in the race whom Donald Trump will be running against, and this person may be the hardest one for him to handle.
I'm talking about Donald J. Trump himself.
This isn't exactly earth-shattering news or even something new. As was the case in previous campaigns, Trump's strongest opponent has always been himself. In 2016, it was amusing and refreshing the way he seemed to speak with a brutal honesty that most politicians lack. It really contrasted nicely with Hillary Clinton's notorious insincerity.
I honestly never believed that Trump could win in 2016. While many people kept the faith, I was convinced that President Hillary Clinton was inevitable. So, when the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape dropped, the only real difference I thought it would make was that Trump would lose by an even bigger margin.
Obviously, that's not what happened. Trump won. Still, that doesn't excuse what Trump did Saturday night during a special event. He actually brought up the tape.
Trump was telling the audience about when the tape came up during the 2016 election and he was advised by some to resign because they though his chances of winning were over.
"I went to one person who said something so horrible, he said, 'Sir, you can stay in and have the single greatest defeat in the history of politics. Or you can get out... and maybe that person will have a chance,'" Trump said. "It went through like this, and then I got to Steve Bannon. True story... 'You should stay in sir, you're going to win this race 100%.' 100%! True story."
Trump admitted that he wasn't sure if Bannon actually believed it.
"Here's the way I looked at it," Trump continued. "If I get out, it would be historic. First time anyone has gotten out after getting the nomination in a landslide... and we were doing really well, but this one particular event came up. And I said, you know, if we get out, it's historic. If we don't get out, we lose. If we lose, we lose. It's big, it's horrible, but it's not historic. Somebody always loses, a little bit....And did we kick ass after that?"
Trump then recalled how his debate with Hillary Clinton took place soon after the tape came out.
"I went onto that stage just a few days later, and a general, who’s a fantastic general, actually said to me, 'Sir, I’ve been on the battlefield. Men have gone down on my left and on my right. I stood on hills where soldiers were killed. But I believe the bravest thing I’ve ever seen was the night you went on to that stage with Hillary Clinton, after what happened. And then that woman asked you the first question about it.'"
I'd be willing to bet that a general who has seen men die on the battlefield would never say that, but I digress.
Trump continued. "And I said, 'Locker room talk!' 'It’s locker room talk!' What the hell?! 'Locker room talk!' That was not great. I dropped 11 points, and then after the debate I went up 13 points. It looked like somebody with a really bad heart, it went bing, bing."
I'm sure Trump is quite proud that he managed to overcome the negative publicity from that incident, but is there anything to be gained by bring it up now, ahead of the 2024 election? I hadn't thought of the "Access Hollywood" tape in a long time, and it seems inexplicable that Trump would be the one to remind me of it. Is this something he really wants to be reminding the voters of? Does he really want to give the media an opening to cover it again?
