In a truly cringe-worthy moment, President Donald Trump called on staff at a press conference yesterday to attest to his being calm and measured in a controversial meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi described Trump as throwing a “temper tantrum.” I am perfectly willing to accept that the portrayal was unfair, but the solution was not to have awkward testimonials of five staffers lined up like a firing squad. It took seconds for media around the world to portray the event as an American version of an impromptu moment with “the Dear One.”

President Trump held the press conference in the Roosevelt Room in the White House to announce a $16 billion bailout for farmers. He then called on Kellyanne Conway, Hogan Gidley, Larry Kudlow, and others to publicly attest to his calm and controlled demeanor. Kudlow looked like his family was being held in a back room at gunpoint. It did not help that he is recovering from hip surgery but was hobbled out for the event.

I still do not understand why these missteps occur. However, part of the problem appears to be a lack of frank advice to the President who is looking at what may be an insurmountable challenge of over 50 percent of voters saying that they will not consider voting for him.

Trump again referred to himself as “an extremely stable genius” while referring to Pelosi as “crazy.” At the same time, Rudy Giuliani has retweeted a doctored clip of Pelosi to make her sound like she was having problems speaking.

This may play well with the base but the White House is rapidly alienating but it is having a clearly devastating impact on those key independent voters needed in the general election. What is weird is that the same result could have been achieved but simply getting these people out to the media instead of having what came across as forced public testimonials.

What do you think?