A.B. Stoddard: The real Donald Trump

It’s been a week since Donald Trump turned in a limp performance at the second GOP main-stage presidential debate and Carly Fiorina flattened him, beginning her powerful surge. The bellicose billionaire is not tanking but he is slipping, and boy is it a noisy process.

Polls show Trump’s lead holding but losing some of its strength, as Fiorina makes gains. The slight slide has him publicly squirming. Now that he can no longer pick on Fiorina’s looks, he is attacking her controversial record at Hewlett-Packard, calling the former CEO “robotic” and insisting that listening to her talk gives you “a tremendous headache.”

{mosads}Trump is staying busy, doing television shows, threatening lawsuits and throwing Twitter tantrums. But the mojo — indeed, the very essence of Trump — seems to be taking more coffee breaks. With the political cognoscenti contemplating his potential demise, a surprising crack appeared in Trump’s golden armor when he momentarily dropped the bragging and bluster. 

“Well I don’t think panic is a word that I’d use, but you know, sure, I’d like to stay on top. I have stayed on top,” he said of his dip in polling. While not normally one to admit even the possibility of defeat, Trump said: “If I don’t make it, that’s OK, I’ll go back to having a good time and building a business and being with my family and my kids. But this is a shot, and I’ll give it my best.”

The Founding Birther is even betraying his movement. When “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert asked Trump this week if President Obama was born in the United States, he responded, “I don’t talk about it anymore.” 

Come on, Don, what’s going on? 

Long an aficionado of the magician’s distraction, Trump has just threatened suit against the Club for Growth for political ads that accuse him of supporting higher taxes. The response from the Club for Growth to his cease and desist request that, if ignored, would be followed by a multimillion-dollar lawsuit was not only that the ads will still run but “we suggest that Donald grow up, stop his whining, and try to defend his liberal record.”

The Club’s attacks are the same ones former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush employs in criticizing Trump — though thus far the real estate mogul isn’t suing Bush, just accusing him of having a pot habit. 

Yes, the GOP front-runner posted a video on Instagram, which in the old days would have been called an ad, suggesting his competitor could be smoking pot. After showing Bush admitting last week at the CNN debate at the Reagan Library that he indeed smoked marijuana 40 years ago, words on screen ask: “Are we sure it was only forty years ago?” OK. Bush is the least of Trump’s worries, so it’s not clear where he’s going with this.

Of course Trump is once again upset with Fox News Channel, placing a moratorium on interviews there and for the first time going after Bill O’Reilly, anchor of “The O’Reilly Factor” and a friend he sees socially. On Monday Trump pouted on Twitter: “@oreillyfactor was very negative to me in refusing to post the great polls that came out today including NBC. @FoxNews not good for me!” 

There you have it, Fox News Channel is supposed to be “good for” Trump. When asked about the outburst, O’Reilly said, “He wants people to like him. When people criticize him, he takes it personally. “

Maybe Trump should go back to bashing women, war heroes and nice doctors who can’t create jobs. Because if people find out he really just wants to be liked, Trump — that fearless tough guy who tells it like it is — is done.

Stoddard is an associate editor of The Hill.