What did Donald Trump do today?

He showed his age.

Trump spent his 74th birthday as he's spent most Sundays since taking office—golfing and Tweeting. In those tweets, he continued to try to paint protests against police violence as a "radical left" plot:

Interesting how ANTIFA and other Far Left militant groups can take over a city without barely a wimpier [sic] from soft Do Nothing Democrat leadership,  yet these same weak leaders become RADICAL when it comes to shutting down a state or city and its hard working, tax paying citizens!  

Does anyone notice how little the Radical Left takeover of Seattle is being discussed in the Fake News Media. That is very much on purpose because they know how badly this weakness & ineptitude play politically. The Mayor & Governor should be ashamed of themselves. Easily fixed!

In the real world, Seattle has not been taken over by anyone. Local police are voluntarily giving a wide berth to a six-block area, dubbed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), where protestors have congregated.

Trump has made threats—probably empty ones—to use military troops against the occupation. It's not clear why Trump thinks it won't "play politically" for Seattle not to use force against a still-nonviolent protest. He has badly misread the public mood.

76% of Americans see racial discrimination as a serious problem. 67% support the Black Lives Matter movement, which is the nucleus of the CHAZ occupation. And 74% of Americans—including more than half of Republicans—said that the country was on the "wrong track." (That poll was concluded before Trump's politically disastrous use of military force against peaceful protestors outside the White House.)

In recent weeks, Trump has mocked politicians who supported Black Lives Matter protests. He's insisted that there is no inherent race problem in policing. As for the "track" the country is on, the closest Trump has come to an admission that there are any problems on his watch is that his new campaign slogan is "Transition to Greatness."

Things have gotten so bad for Trump so quickly that one poll now shows Trump leading his Democratic challenger Joe Biden by only 2% in Arkansas—a deeply conservative state where whites outnumber blacks 5 to 1.

Why does this matter?

• One way to be more popular with your constituents is to believe the things they believe by overwhelming majorities.