The President Stole My Line

Good morning from Las Vegas, Friends,

I live literally 10 minutes from the site of the final presidential debate, but I'll be watching it on TV along with everybody else. The world is tough on semi-retired journalists.

Even though I requested a media ticket to the debate many weeks ago, and I've been an honored member of the Nevada Broadcasters' Hall of Fame since 2005, my request was ignored.

It sucks getting old.

And yesterday, to add insult to injury, President Obama stole my line.

Everybody steals lines from everybody. Melania steals from
Michelle, and Barack steals from me.

When Donald Trump went on a Twitter tirade two days ago over our "rigged election," I replied to one of his tweets that he should "stop whining and man up."

It's well documented in the ether, and I re-tweeted the original this morning to prove my claim.

Someone in the White House obviously read my tweet and liked the concept.

And 'stop whining' got into the national discourse yesterday when President Obama repeated it verbatim in his Rose Garden press conference.

I was flattered. But I'm still anonymous.

I can honestly claim ownership of these words because for several years back in the early 1990's, my co-workers and I were beaten over the head with them by a manager named Jeff Katz. He refused to hear any carping from any of his mid-managers--like me--even legitimate gripes. To him, it was all just "whining."

And we were constantly admonished to stop it. I literally had dreams about Katz's scoldings to "stop whining."

I've never heard anyone in the public eye ever use the words...until I did from Mr. Obama yesterday. You're welcome, Mr. President, and you can also thank Jeff Katz

But the fact is that Trump will not stop whining--ever. That's what schoolyard bullies do when they don't get their way.

And he's not being treated the way he wants to by most of the public and the media. Not to mention that he can't stand losing--even if he doesn't want the prize.

And he doesn't.

The way he's gone off the rails lately, he's made it clear he doesn't want to be President--he just wants to win the race. God knows what he'd do if he actually had the job.

The rest of the media is coming around to what I predicted about Trump months ago, His true objective is to sit atop a new Alt Right media empire.

The 'tell' will be how Trump performs tonight. Another over-the-top debate performance like the last two, and we'll know for sure he's lost interest in the presidency.