In presidential election years, the time between the state party primaries and the national political conventions usually is an opportunity for the presumptive nominees to take stock and gear up for the fall campaign. But so far Donald Trump has squandered the interlude with antics and remarks that can only be described as thoroughly self-destructive.
Not only has he continued insulting his political foes in the Democratic Party and disparaged a federal judge presiding over a civil suit against his defunct Trump University. He has also turned on fellow Republicans who dare to show reluctance to accept his capture of the Republican presidential nomination and the party itself.
Mr. Trump has mocked intraparty chatter about trying to change rules at the national convention next month to free delegates from pledges to support him on the first ballot, saying he will win the nomination with or without them.
"So I win 38 states (in the primaries) and somebody else wins none, and they're going to be the nominee?" observed Sunday on NBC. "I don't think so." He added: "It would be nice if the Republicans stick together. I think I can win either way."
Key GOP officeholders from House Speaker Paul Ryan on down have had to bend themselves into pretzels to disavow some of Mr. Trump's comments while also striving to retain their party loyalty.mr. Ryan agonized long about endorsing him before crumbling, and then said fellow Republicans should follow their consciences.
He posed his own dilemma thus: "Imagine the speaker of the House not supporting the duly elected nominee of our party, therefore creating a chasm in our party to split us in half."
The latest evidence of the Trump campaign's disorder and internal combustion was Monday's bombshell that its manager from the outset, Corey Lewandowski, had been shown the door. Sans immediate explanation, he appeared to have lost out to onetime GOP establishment operative Paul Manafort, who had promised a reformed Donald on the stump. Evidence of it, though, has been woefully lacking so far.
A further sign of the growing panic in Republican ranks is the way leading party figures are shying away from being considered Mr. Trump's running mate. About the only well-known figure openly hinting he would accept is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, himself a politically scarred retread who seems eager for redemption.
Mr. Trump's remarks after the mass murder of 49 attendees at the Orlando gay nightclub were particularly offensive. First he praised himself for predicting it would happen. Then he sought to place the tragedy on President Obama for not having been aggressive enough against the Islamic State. He did so despite U.S. security and intelligence officials saying they yet had no evidence the killer had acted at the direction of Islamic terrorists.
Worse were Mr. Trump's smarmy implications that Mr. Obama had somehow been plugged in on the Orlando attack. At one point he said the president "gets it better than anybody understands," and without elaborating, that he "has something else in mind."
While continuing to spew wild and unsubstantiated rants, Mr. Trump has assaulted the Republican National Committee apparatus for not getting behind his candidacy. On his own, he has not provided much to show that the Trump operation is gearing up in any major way for the multimillion-dollar organizational effort required in the election against the well-heeled Hillary Clinton team.
Whether or not any revolt against Mr. Trump's nomination actually is mounted at the convention, his erratic behavior and observations since the primaries have finally begun to dent the public hypnosis he cast over Republican voters earlier this year.
Importantly, the major mainline newspapers and some magazines have now turned their reporters loose on Mr. Trump's business and personal records, punching holes in his claims of uninterrupted financial success as well as his charitable giving. Polls now show a notable slide in his favorability as the national party convention approaches next month in Cleveland. And so the circus goes on.
Jules Witcover is a syndicated columnist and former long-time writer for The Baltimore Sun. His latest book is "The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power" (Smithsonian Books). His email is juleswitcover@comcast.net.