Donald Trump has spent just about every waking minute of the past week flirting with political suicide. There is his ongoing assault on a Gold Star family, the adjacent I-always-wanted-a-Purple-Heart-but-didn't-want-to-earn-it incident, and now the open revolt against congressional leaders in his own party. Also, he ate KFC with a fork and knife.

It's enough to make many wonder whether Trump is trying to extricate himself from this sticky situation he's gotten himself into—namely, maybe having to actually be President of the United States.

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Not saying @realDonaldTrump is trying to throw this thing. But if he were, would he behave any differently that he has the past few days? — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 3, 2016

In fairness, Trump's entire campaign has been an exercise in kamikaze politics. He began by alienating the one demographic group, Hispanics, that Republicans had identified as crucial to their party retaking the White House this year. (See: The Wall, mass deportations, Judge Curiel.) Then he disparaged the service of a veteran and former prisoner of war, who also happened to be his party's nominee eight years ago. He discussed shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. He talked about his dick at a presidential debate. And on, and on, and on.

But Trump's spontaneous combustion since last week's DNC wrapped up has really got people wondering if he's trying to throw this thing.

There have long been murmurs that Trump was not even seeking the nomination—much less the job—when he set out last summer. As the former communications chief of an affiliated Super PAC, who said she was brought on board to get the Orange One's "protest candidacy" polling "in double digits," wrote in March:

"I'll say it again: Trump never intended to be the candidate. But his pride is too out of control to stop him now. He doesn't want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House. He's achieved that already and then some. If there is any question, take it from someone who was recruited to help the candidate succeed, and initially very much wanted him to do so. The hard truth is: Trump only cares about Trump."

Trump's knowledge on a range of subjects—from geopolitics to economics to his thirst to simply nuke anyone we want—ranges from very little to absolute zero. He does not seem to have any real beliefs, beyond that America is currently Not Great. Beneath all the bluster and the bullshit, he is very likely terrified at the thought of having to make decisions on a daily basis that could alter the course of human history.

Johnny Louis Getty Images

Or maybe he hasn't thought about any of that, and his primary-season shtick of lurching from crisis to crisis while constantly dominating the news cycle is finally backfiring. That's the thinking of Jamelle Bouie at Slate, and it makes just as much sense. After all, Trump's former ghostwriter says he has the attention span of a gnat, and no patience for things like planning or evidence-based decision-making.

In the end, it might not matter. The newest news says Top Republican Men of Good Repute are planning "an intervention" on Trump, while Esquire's Charles P. Pierce smells a mutiny where the Apricot Demagogue might find himself walking the plank. His poll numbers have also dropped sharply, meaning they are now biased and wrong. Whether he's really steering or not, the U.S.S. Trump is taking on some serious water. And maybe that was his plan all along.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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