Apparently the apples don't fall fall far from the tree

Donald Trump being Donald Trump, we can expect his campaign for re-election to be nasty, thuggish, vulgar, and insubstantial.

One of the reasons why I think he's going to lose is that we can also expect it to be rather inept. Joe Biden isn't nearly as disliked as Hillary Clinton, and it's going to be hard for the President of the United States to convincingly play the "outsider" running against a corrupt establishment, especially since the aroma of corruption from his own administration wafts so noticeably on the air. Sure, his base will buy whatever he says and believe whatever he claims. But to be re-elected, he's going to have to convince more than just his base.

And I don't think he knows how. Conspiracy theories and wild, unsubstantiated charges are very much Mr. Trump's customary mode of operation.  Personal attacks are his stock-in-trade. But one of the first rules when it comes to making charges against one's political opponents is that one needs to be very careful lest they backfire, as can easily happen when you, yourself, are just as vulnerable to the same charge as is your opponent, and especially when you're even more vulnerable.

Donald Trump being Donald Trump, attacks on his opponent's mental status are not necessarily the way to go. Given Mr. Trump's association with sexual harassment and assault (to say nothing of his taped confession to Billy Bush of being a habitual molester of women) leaning too heavily on Tara Reade's accusation against Joe Biden may also not be the smartest of all possible moves. But yesterday, Donald Trump, Junior pulled off a real classic.

Like that bizarre interview Donald Junior's brother Eric gave that I blogged about yesterday, this entry from Junior's Instagram account is evidence that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree- especially since, when people reacted with outrage yesterday, Junior took a page from Dad's playbook and lamely claimed that it was meant to be a "joke."

Some joke. Clearly, he inherited his father's sense of humor.

This is not merely an unforced error. It's so gratuitous a bad move that one can only wonder at the degree of hubris that must be behind it.
.

In case it even needs to be said, there is absolutely no evidence that Joe Biden is a pedophile, nor is there any reason to think that he even might be. On the other hand, the same can't be said about Junior's father.

Katie Johnson- not her real name- sued Donald Trump on charges that he and his friend Jeffrey Epstein (yes, that Jeffrey Epstein) sexually molested her when she was thirteen years old. The lawsuit, filed in California, was dismissed because of filing errors, refiled in New York State, and subsequently withdrawn because "Katie" said that she had received death threats and was afraid for her life.

An accusation is not proof, of course. But it's more than Junior has on Joe Biden. Not a smart move, Junior. You don't raise a subject like that when your guy is vulnerable on it and the other guy... well, isn't.

And once again, the incident speaks to the profound lack of self-awareness which characterizes the Trump clan. They seem to be bound and determined to wage a singularly nasty campaign of slander and personal attacks on Biden about matters concerning which Mr. Trump is far more vulnerable than his opponent. Given Mr. Trump's customary incoherence, erratic behavior, conspiracy theorizing, egocentricity, and record of bizarre statements and claims, as well as outright self-contradiction (sometimes in the same paragraph), attacking Biden's mental status is probably not their best move.

All-in-all, one would think that questions concerning Biden's mental status and the subject of sexual misbehavior would be things that the Trump campaign would be avoiding like the plague. But we're getting clear indications this early in the campaign that Mr. Trump and those close to him just don't get it.

Expect the Trump campaign to be very, very nasty... and not necessarily all that smart.