"There you go again."
Those four words became a kitchen-table topic around the nation in 1980.
Ronald Reagan dropped them on Jimmy Carter during a presidential debate. Reagan did it after Carter accused him of opposing a national health insurance proposal that Carter said would stress disease prevention.
Reagan, smiling at Carter and a national television audience, quipped, "There you go again." Contrary to opposing national health care legislation, Reagan said he opposed the Carter plan because he favored another less expensive health care proposal over Carter's..
Now, 36 years later, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign could be traveling down Reagan's "There you go again" highway.
Two weeks ago, Trump's wife, Melania, addressed the Republican National Convention and used the same words Michelle Obama spoke while addressing the Democratic National Convention in 2008. Melania Trump was accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obama.
A Trump speech writer later acknowledged that she wrote Obama's words in a draft of Ms. Trump's speech. She apologized and offered her resignation. Donald Trump didn't accept It and took no disciplinary action against her.
While discussing campaigns and politics Tuesday, Trump refused to endorse two prominent Republicans in their re-election bids - Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S.House of Representatives. and U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Ryan and McCain have endorsed Trump. Both of them, however, have lashed out at the New York billionaire for his comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan. They are the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
While addressing the Democratic National convention, the husband criticized Trump's stand on immigration. He noted that his son was killed in the Iraq campaign. Trump, who never lets a criticism go unchallenged, commented that Mrs. Khan didn't say a word because her Muslim faith prohibited it.
In May during the presidential primary season, Ryan delayed his Trump endorsement, saying he was surveying the situation and "was not quite there yet."
Ryan meets Paul Nehlen in Wisconsin's Tuesday primary. The Speaker's heavily favored to win the contest. If he does, it'll be without Trump's help. While Trump hasn't endorsed Nehlen, he's congratulated Nehlen for running a good campaign.
"I like Paul," Trump said. "But these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership;. We need very, very strong leadership, and I'm just not quite there yet. I'm not quite there yet."
"Not quite there yet." Those are the same words that Ryan used in May while delaying his Trump endorsement.
Could it be the Trump campaign has evolved from plagiarism to copycats?
Meanwhile, Trump ruffled Hillary Clinton's feathers with comments he made Monday at political gathering in Columbus, Ohio. Trump said if he loses the presidential election to Clinton, the Democratic nominee, it would mean some hanky-panky was going at the polling places.
"First of all, it's rigged and I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, to be honest," Trump said. "I have to be honest because I think my side was rigged."
The next day, Clinton attacked Trump.
"Even for a reflexive conspiracy theorist like Trump, this is pathetic," Clinton said. "It's dangerous, too."
Throughout his campaign, Trump has ordered protesters out of the building. On Tuesday, he ordered a baby out of an arena for crying. Yep, crying. At first, Trump said he was joking, that he liked crying babies and the baby could stay. But the baby kept crying and Trump's patience wore thin.
He ordered the crying baby out.
It hasn't been Trump's best campaign week. But he's remained true to his character, counterattack when attacked and dispatch disturbances immediately. Get them out, even if they're babies.
