Insecure Trump releases ad whining that he didn’t get enough applause at SOTU

Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address drew dismal ratings, netting him 8 million fewer viewers than President Barack Obama’s first address in 2010.

But rather than examine his own flaws that may have led to such poor numbers, Trump is taking a different response and continuing to attack Democrats for not applauding him.

Trump, who tried to cue Democrats to stand and clap in the middle of his speech, sparked outrage on Monday by calling people who stayed motionless during his speech “treasonous.”

Now he’s taken it one step further with a re-election campaign ad featuring audio of the speech interspersed with stony-faced footage of several Democrats: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Whip Dick Durbin, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Sen. Cory Booker, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — complete with snidely pointed captions.

“President Trump asked Democrats to join him in standing up for America. Instead they just sat there … and sat there … and sat there … Disrespecting our people. Disrespecting our country. It’s disgraceful.”

The petulance and insecurity on display in this ad may be all too predictable, but it is stunning nonetheless.

When a Republican congressman screamed “You lie!” at Obama during his 2009 address to Congress, Obama coolly continued without feeling the need to insult anyone afterward.

If Trump wanted Democrats to applaud, he might have tried devoting less of the speech to attacking immigrants and black athletes and hyping corporate tax cuts. One of the only issues he mentioned at the speech with cross-party appeal was paid family leave — for which his administration’s proposal involves cutting Social Security.

With Trump, no failure in leadership ever seems to be his fault. In this case, it is Democrats and their decision not to put their hands together for him who he is pathetically trying to blame for his own shortcomings.