HARRISBURG, Pa. — Donald Trump thrives on attention like plants feed off sunlight.

So consider how disconcerting it must have been for our former president to watch our current vice president, Kamala Harris, seize the national spotlight in the opening 10 days of her campaign for the White House.

Trump, left in the shadows, fumed as he was supplanted, whining that Fox News was airing Harris campaign rallies. He’d rather be reviled than ignored.

That explains what happened Wednesday when Trump ranted through a racist tantrum while speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago. Outside the protective bubble of cheering fans at rallies, like the one he held Wednesday evening, and right-wing talking heads telling him how great he is, Trump lashed out.

So predictable. He craved attention. He didn’t care how he got it, a common theme in both his appearances on Wednesday.

Compare that with how Trump reveled in the adoration of his – overwhelmingly white – fans just a few hours later at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Thousands of people cheered while he rambled through the same old stories about immigration and crime and crime and immigration, with a warning of economic apocalypse here and there.

They didn’t care that Trump spoke in bumper-sticker slogans, never offering any detail about how he would reverse everything that he sees as wrong about America. They didn't mind that Trump often sounded like he was still challenging President Joe Biden, who dropped his bid for reelection on July 21 and endorsed Harris.

What a........

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