Not even the courtesy of congratulatory phone calls
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Gone are the formalities of congratulatory phone calls and speech shout-outs on the night that when a rival secures the nomination. For all the history made by Clinton’s nomination clinch, Donald Trump uttered no word of congratulations to his general election rival, just as Clinton launched straight into criticism of her opponent when he secured his party’s nod. Compare that with 2008, when John McCain actually aired an ad(!) after Barack Obama’s nomination speech at the Democratic National Convention, noting “Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations.”
Over the last four elections, candidates have called each other on the occasion of the Big Clinch. Obama called Mitt Romney in May 2012; Bush called John Kerry in March 2004; and even the contentious back-and-forth between newly minted nominees Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000 included at least nominal words of congratulation before the barbs began. If these two candidates — who, by the way, had a personal relationship long before Trump’s campaign began — are unable to even speak to each other to acknowledge the kickoff to the general election, what does that say about how they’ll deal with each other for the next 150 or so days?
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