I turned on the so-called debate for about ten minutes last night. I have no idea how anyone could sit through the whole thing. But this morning all the locals in my Philly metro area are buzzing about the "bad things happen in Philadelphia" line. You can already order the t-shirt (although after wearing it once or twice, how many people will remember what it refers to?)
I realize President Blurt-Out-Whatever-the-Demented-Brain-Dements doesn't do strategy, but if he did strategy, it is not a bad strategy to try to win Pennsylvania by insisting that Philadelphia is a hell hole. It would lose him Philadelphia's votes but he is never going to get those votes. Probably most of the suburbs either. His only shot is to trigger an us-vs-them hysteria in the rest of the state for that scary urban area, and to also take advantage of the Pittsburgh-Philly rivalry to rally votes in the suburbs of that other urban area.
I'm not saying there is much method to Trump's madness. I really think it's mostly just madness. And I think he is probably going to lose PA whatever he does. But he might be blundering into the best shot he has to pull it off.
