The Trump campaign’s efforts to pretend that Michelle Fields is nothing more than a giant lie designed to make Trump looked bad took a major hit yesterday, when the Jupiter Police Department charged Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski with battery. The police department also released CCTV footage that clearly showed Lewandowski roughly grabbing Fields and jerking her backwards. This, coupled with eyewitness accounts, the bruises on Fields’ arm, audio, and video, made it fairly obvious, and police arrested Lewandowski. Any decent presidential candidate and human being would, at this point, fire Lewandowski. But this is Trump we’re talking about, the guy with authoritarian leanings who openly admires dictators and despots. He probably gave Lewandowski a raise, and the Trump campaign quickly put out a statement saying that he would not be fired.

Now, Trump is making this entire saga even more ridiculous. Lewandowski was right to grab Fields the way he did, because Michelle Fields could have been a super-secret assassin, on a mission to kill Donald Trump… with her pen!

Victory press conference was over.
Why is she allowed to grab me and shout questions? Can I press charges? pic.twitter.com/qbW2RjkINX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2016

The audio was released, Trump. She didn’t shout anything. And judging by his next tweet, she didn’t grab him, either:

Why is this reporter touching me as I leave news conference? What is in her hand?? pic.twitter.com/HQB8dl0fhn

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2016

She lightly touched Donald Trump’s arm, but OMG EVERYONE PANIC.

Trump: "[Fields] walked through Secret Service. She had a pen in her hand, which could have been a knife." pic.twitter.com/CE4LSzslvU

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) March 30, 2016

She attacked him with a pen!! Thank GOD Corey Lewandowski came in and grabbed her so roughly that she almost lost her balance and was left with bruises on her arm. Trump could have been KILLED. With a PEN. She also never said that she was “dragged to the ground”; to the contrary, she specifically said that she didn’t fall to the ground. Lewandowski also never said that he grabbed her because he was afraid for Trump’s safety. He specifically said that he didn’t recognize her as a member of Breitbart, that ass-kissing Trump machine, and thought she was a member of the “adversarial” media. Remember? Because he thought she was one of the “bad” reporters who might write something less than a fawning ode to the wonders of Trump, Lewandowski assaulted her. Get your stories straight, Donald.

Here’s the video of Trump seemingly losing his mind with this ridiculous defense of the battery against Fields.

Remember what’s been said about Donald Trump and gaslighting? Yeah, that’s what he’s doing right now.

Plenty has been said already about how this entire episode forecasts nothing but bad news should Trump be elected president, given that he’ll likely trample all over the right to freedom of press. He’s perfectly fine with using force against media figures that dare to question or criticize him, including physical force. That in and of itself is terrifying. This is how dictators are born, people.

But there’s something else about this that should be worrisome. Trump’s supporters talk all the time about how he’s such a tough guy, and he’s the only candidate who will be able to stand up to people like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, that he can fight ISIS and crack down on Islamic terrorism. Are these people kidding?! This is a man who is apparently intimidated by a small girl with a pen. If he’s afraid of someone like Michelle Fields, then Vladimir Putin will make Trump wet his pants and cry for his mommy. Is this his definition of “strength”? Getting intimidated because a female reporter brushed his arm and asked him a tough question, so he sends his thuggish campaign manager to assault her? Trump isn’t a tough guy — he’s a sniveling, weaselly coward who wouldn’t be able to find his balls with a mirror and a flashlight. And do we really want such a whiny loser as our president? Haven’t we had enough of that already with President Mom Jeans?