What did Donald Trump do today?

He gave up on the midterms, and then became enraged when someone asked why he was giving up on the midterms.

Trump announced today that he would be abandoning his midterm campaigning well short of the finish line, calling off planned rallies in Iowa and Kansas. Instead, the White House said, he will be literally phoning it in, appearing via tape at "tele-rallies" for unspecified candidates. 

There are two likely explanations for Trump's decision to abandon the field, and they're not mutually exclusive. One is that Trump's handlers have read enough polls to conclude that the races in the ruby-red states Trump was campaigning in are already lost, and that having him appear at rallies to the very end would only further associate him with those failures. It's also become an issue for Trump's ego, if not the campaigns themselves, how small the crowds he's able to draw have become. 

The other possibility is that Trump, who has become increasingly erratic and incoherent during his rally tour, is simply too unwell to handle even a few more days of it. His voice has gotten increasingly raspy, and he's been even more prone to embarrassing outbursts and long, meandering tangents in which he rehashes old grievances. 

It's also possible, though there's no evidence of this, that Republican candidates fighting for their political lives in what had been the friendly territory of Iowa and Kansas simply begged him not to make matters worse. If so, they will have succeeded in getting desperately needed distance from Trump where most other Republicans in close races have failed. Trump's personal popularity is lower than it ever has been, and far lower than it was at this point in 2018, when Republicans lost a catastrophic 41 seats in the House. Very few Republicans running for office this year acceded to Trump's demand to appear at the "midterm convention" where he put himself front and center every night, and still fewer have actually agreed to appear with him on the campaign trail.  

When a reporter asked today about his decision to give up on the rallies, Trump became instantly enraged, stumbling over his words as he responded with defensive mockery:

Q: Mr. President, you've been doing a lot of travel. We've been doing a lot of travel with you. How are you feeling, how's your health?

TRUMP: Good, I think you've seen that. We had a great rally, that was a great rally, and I think that, uh, Darlene's gonna do very well, I think we're all gonna do very well. I think, think  you're gonna have some very—we're gonna have a strong Tuesday night, that's my opinion.

Q: So you not going to Kansas has nothing to do with you being sick—

TRUMP: Oh, you're sick to ask that question. You are sick. Who are you with? 

Q: I'm with Reuters, sir.

TRUMP: You are a sick guy. Reuters is terrible, by the— can you imagine— look at this dope, look at this guy, looks way out of shape, look at how badly— he comes to me, "Sir, you're not gonna go to Kansas," I'm not going to Kansas 'cause he's doing very well. Gonna do a telerally. Tomorrow I'm doing Florida. He said, "What's the reas—" after doing, what, 28, he says, "What's the reason for this, sir? That you're not going to Kansas?" You know the reason is? I don't feel I have to go to Kansas. I'm going to Florida tomorrow, and I'll do—if something else comes up, but he said, "You're not going to Kansas, sir. Are you feeling well?" You've been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape, you look like hell.

This was how Trump, who was visibly sweating in spite of seasonally cool weather in the Washington, DC area, appeared during that exchange.

 

Unusually for Trump, the reporter he lashed out was male. It's much more typical for Trump to lose his temper with female members of the press corps, like the one he called a "horrible little reporter" earlier this week for asking about his support of a political ad that effectively took the side of a child rapist against his now-adult victim who is running as a Democrat for governor of Ohio.

Why does this matter?

• An 80-year-old man who can't control his temper when someone asks after his health has serious problems even if he is feeling okay.