Trump faces new character tests as campaign enters final stretch

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/07/politics/donald-trump-election-2020-character-test/index.html

 Maybe the biggest surprise about allegations President Donald Trump uttered rude dismissals of American war dead was how unsurprising it really was.

The remarks, reported first in The Atlantic magazine and corroborated by several outlets, including CNN, seemed so in character with Trump's public persona that even an onslaught of denials from current and former officials did little to negate the impression that Trump is a man who sometimes says terrible things.

When excerpts soon followed of his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen's book portraying Trump as a cheat, liar, fraud, bully, racist, predator and con man, the surprise again failed to materialize -- even though Cohen had worked intimately with Trump for years.

 Now, as the presidential campaign begins its post-Labor Day finale, the question has become less about what Americans know of Trump's character but whether they care.

Trump appears to be betting they don't. He's continued his attacks on war heroes and generals, even as he tries to claim utmost respect for the military. And he's dismissing efforts to reckon with the country's racist past, even as he works to convince suburban White voters he's not racist himself.