I don’t buy it. Trump’s handlers rushed him off the stage after 30 or 40 minutes when he was scheduled to speak for an hour or more. (And no, it is not a plausible excuse that he had another appearance that forced him to cut it short.) They realized it was a disaster and terminated his appearance before he could do more damage. His base may think that he was treated unfairly, but any thoughtful person who was unsure about him before and watched the debacle unfold, had to be appalled by his unfettered defensiveness, deflection, racism and lies. The only perplexing thing is why his campaign arranged for him to appear in the first place. They had to know nothing good was likely to come from it.

The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that the event smacked of desperation. Things have gone so badly for the Trump campaign since he chose Vance to be his VP that he needed something to turn it around. I think he had an unrealistic belief that he could somehow win over part of the black vote. Trump, as usual, went with his gut rather than thinking things through and using reason in making his disastrous decision.