First Read: Trump's temperament problem

Jun. 1, 2016, 9:05 AM EDT

By Chuck Todd , Carrie Dann and Mark Murray

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day’s most important political stories and why they matter.

Trump’s Temperament Problem

For all of the attention on Hillary Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness, Donald Trump has maybe even a bigger problem — temperament. According to the April NBC/WSJ poll, only 19% of all registered voters gave Clinton good marks for being honest and straightforward, while 48% gave her a “very poor” rating on this attribute. But Trump’s numbers on whether he has the right temperament to be president were even worse in the poll: Just 12% gave him high marks here, versus 60% who gave him a “very poor” score. And Trump’s temperament — of lack thereof — was on fully display at his news conference yesterday.

On whether his fundraising numbers for veterans groups added up: “I wanted to keep it private, because I don’t think it’s anybody’s business if I want to send money to the vets” (despite the fact that he held a public event to publicize the money being raised).
On a reporter who asked another question on Trump’s vet fundraising: “You’re a sleaze!”
On his criticism of fellow Republicans like New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: “If I have a Republican that’s not on my side, why should I be particularly nice to that person?”
On conservative Bill Kristol trying to find an independent to run against Trump: “These people are losers.”
On the federal judge overseeing the case regarding Trump University: “The judge has been very unfair… He’s been a very bad judge.”