I was struck by Trump's lack luster support of Ryan and McCain

[ChairmanAgnostic]

Clearly, he was reading a script. His lack of enthusiasm was as clear as the tips of his tiny fingers.

So, it begs the question: What just happened behind the scenes? And who has the clout with Teh Don and enough "respect" from him to get his addled attention long enough to convince him that this was a necessary, if painful, step?

His closest hired aides? Doubtful. Rob Bennett? The guy who called Ben Carson the smartest guy he had ever met? Heh. Lewandowsky? He is too busy making an ass of himself on CNN. Paul Manafort? ha.

I am going with his daughter and one of his sons. Even they realized how bad the optics were becoming.

[Duckhunter935]

1. Looked like he did that under duress

[Takket]

2. awwww the GOP has kissed and made up!

I'm sure there will be no more lack of unity in the party after this

[TipTok]

3. I think it is starting to make a dent in his brain...

... that the general is a different animal than the primaries.

I suspect that the GOP leadership threatened to publicly dump him and take the hit to focus on state and local elections. He is not as independent as he thinks and realized that he is going to be the biggest laughing stock in modern presidential politics if he doesn't clue in.

[CaptainTruth]

4. Speculation I'm hearing is that an angry Reince Priebus threatened to cut off RNC support

unless Trump started playing well with others.

Trump has no ground game & no real fundraising infrastructure so he needs the RNC far more than they need him & with panic over sinking poll numbers setting in, Trump gave in & read the script the RNC handed him.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. interesting analysis.

You may be correct.

I am waiting for some brilliant researcher to write up this election, especially the Strump-ette phenomena in a book 2-4 years from now. I suspect many former powerful GOPers will have pre-hatched chicken stuff on their face.

[Peacetrain]

6. That was so obvious