Early Friday morning, Donald Trump once again took to Twitter to share his angry thoughts with the world. This time, his tweets were directed at Hillary Clinton and Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado. Alicia Machado was brought up by Hillary Clinton during Monday's presidential debate as further proof of Donald Trump's horrible treatment of women. After her Miss Universe win, Machado gained weight, something Trump and his organization handled awfully. She was reportedly forced into an exercise regime to lose weight, and was called "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping." Hillary Clinton used these comments to further cement public perception that Donald Trump has a history of misogynistic comments and actions toward women.
Rather than apologize or try to clarify his statements, Trump doubled down on them Friday morning, unleashing the following stream of tweets.
Ask yourself, is this the behavior of a President? This is a man who can so easily be baited into Twitter rants and insensitive comments. His pride and ego are so fragile that any injury to them at all causes Trump to lash out. He refuses to apologize or even acknowledge the fact that sometimes he's wrong.
Look at the language in these tweets. He calls his opponent for the presidency, a former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady, "crooked." He refers to Alicia Machado as "disgusting" and a "con." He questions her citizenship and alleges that she has a less than respectable past. Donald Trump's strategy is to paint others as repulsive and ignorant so no one will truly see that that's who he is.
This recent Twitter storm is reminiscent of Trump's feud with the Khan family from earlier this Summer, during which Donald Trump continually insulted and degraded Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who lost their son Humayun during the war in Iraq. The Khan family had been outspoken opponents of Trump's views on Muslims and immigration policy. Rather than treat the Khan's with the respect that a Gold Star family, or any human being, deserves, Trump felt the immediate need to defend himself and renounce himself of any wrongdoing.
Donald J. Trump is the Republican Party's nominee for the Presidency of the United States of America. This is a man who refuses to show an ounce of respect for his political opponent, who continually degrades women and uses deplorable terms to describe them, who refuses to apologize when every indication shows that he's wrong. Donald Trump cannot and will not ever take responsibility for his actions. He acts like a petulant teenager and whines over Twitter when things don't go his way. How on Earth can anyone in good conscience vote this man into the highest office in the land?