Brooks: Cruz ‘Had a Good Convention,’ Trump Is Never Going to be ‘Normal’ Or ‘Charitable to Anybody’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) had “a good convention,” and that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is “never going to be someone who’s normal or is on message or who is particularly charitable to anybody.”

Trump said, “has teleprompter moments, but they always precede a relapse. And he’s had another Trump-being-Trump relapse [during his press conference talking about Cruz]. And we should get used to that. He’s never going to be someone who’s normal or is on message or who is particularly charitable to anybody. My two big takeaways, 24 hours later, first, I’m beginning to think Cruz had a good convention, that if Trump goes down, Cruz is pretty well positioned to be the Republican major figure in four, six or even within two years. The second big thing, we talked about it last night, his decision to go law and order. And at the moment, I thought it was a mistake, because I do think economic and social anxiety is the number one issue. And I’m pretty confident Hillary Clinton will be really riding that train pretty hard.”

He added, “But what happened in Munich today, if there is a series of attacks like that, or, God forbid, if ISIS is really sending soldiers across Europe and maybe across the world for a barrage of these things, then the political climate is revolutionized here. And maybe that — the Trump speech will look like a precursor to a climate that we’re all about to walk into. So, the Munich thing has to adjust the way we look back at that convention.”

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