If members of Donald Trump’s team had greater control of their boss, they probably should’ve tried to keep the former president distracted during the Democratic National Convention. The more the Republican’s attention could be diverted from television screens, the less likely he’d be to throw tantrums.

But if that was the plan, it didn’t work.

Before the final night of the DNC got underway, the former president announced that he’d offer online rebuttals to the convention by way of his social media platform. He certainly tried to do that, starting with a weird “WHERE’S HUNTER?” missive, as if Trump had briefly forgotten that there’s no longer any point in going after President Joe Biden’s son.

As a New York Times report noted, the online tirades — totaling roughly 50 items — ultimately proved insufficient, prompting the GOP candidate to make a phone call.

Former President Donald J. Trump was watching television on Thursday night and he did not like what he saw. His newly minted Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, had just accused him of groveling to dictators, imperiling democracy, betraying American values and, to top it off, deemed him “an unserious man.” So Mr. Trump picked up the telephone and called Fox News.

I can appreciate why the network worked quickly to get the Republican candidate on the air, albeit by telephone. Trump is, after all, the GOP nominee, and it stood to reason that he’d have something notable to say in response to his Democratic rival’s remarks.What Fox might not have realized, however, is that Harris’ convention speech had apparently caused a meltdown.

Recommended

Maddowblog

Trump reportedly frustrated by his inability to make good on foreign policy promises

Steve Benen

Maddowblog

DOJ says Comey and Brennan, perceived Trump foes, are under criminal investigation

Steve Benen

Trump appeared on the air for about 10 minutes, during which time he not only raged incoherently, he also accidentally pushed random buttons on his phone. The interview — I’m using the word loosely — might’ve gone on longer, but Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum effectively cut off the former president mid-rant so that the network could move on to other programming.

And while it was certainly amusing to see Fox effectively tell Trump they no longer wanted to hear him whine uncontrollably, it was even funnier when the Republican hung up with one conservative media network, only to call another.In fact, almost immediately after Trump ranted on Fox, he called Newsmax to keep the meltdown going a while longer.

In a normal political party, such a meltdown would probably be seen as disqualifying. In the contemporary Republican Party, it was a tragically routine Thursday night.