WASHINGTON -- If you had any doubt that Donald Trump’s candidacy for president was being treated by the media -- besides The Huffington Post -- as an entertainment story, all you had to do was listen in to Senate Democrats’ news conference on Tuesday.
The topic at hand was the highway bill, a massive measure that the Senate hopes to move by the end of the month to prevent bridge and road construction projects from grinding to a halt when current funding expires at the end of the month.
There were plenty of questions about that, but then there was one reporter who decided to ask about Trump. She could have asked about what his surge in the polls represented -- a topic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) himself had addressed on the Senate floor earlier in the day. Or perhaps what Reid thought Trump’s impact might be on the Latino vote.
Instead, she asked about Trump’s grade school-level stunt of revealing the cell phone number of a rival, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and managed to win some of the best looks of disgusted amusement that you’ll see from Reid’s fellow leaders.
“I’m wondering what you think of behavior like that, whether it’s befitting of a presidential candidate, whether he should be in the race still,” the reporter asked.
“Who, Lindsey?” Reid asked back, with a perfect deadpan.
Reid declined to weigh in on the vital importance of Trump going all third grade on Graham, but he was happy to reprise his floor speech from the morning. Watch Reid above, especially the expressions of Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) as they realize what question is being asked.
Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.