What better way to start observing the 4th of July holiday, than to watch the soon-to-be Republican nominee ridicule and attempt to intimidate a Turkish reporter at a press conference yesterday.  Boy, there just isn’t a magnanimous impulse in the guy. But, notice that when Turkey is mentioned, his instinct, right after making fun of the Turk in the room, is to talk about his business ventures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwYdkbwoTs

I’m reminded of that time JFK poked fun at a Japanese reporter. “When I was,ah, a young man, we called your people ‘Japs’.  Am I allowed to, ah, call you a “Jap?” Where’s McNamara? Someone ask Mac about this Jap thing. My father used to run Saki from Canada. He and, ah, Meyer Lansky brought it to the U.S. in 1927. I love the Japanese people.”

Or the time Reagan spoke pidgin Spanish to a reporter from El Salvador. “As, my Undersecretary for Latin American affairs, Senor Wences, once said . . .”

Or that week during the congressional debate on the Americans with Disabilities act, when Bill Clinton affected a funny limp in his left leg, breaking up the press corp with physical comedy every time he pretended to struggle up a flight of stairs.  Good stuff.

And smart campaigning by Trump to step so adeptly into the presidential tradition of making fun of people weaker than him.  What else is a Bully Pulpit there for?