Come on, Democrats. Admit it. You're secretly happy that Donald Trump can't keep his big trap shut.
Every time the president says or Tweets something outrageous - which occurs pretty much every time he talks or Tweets - the TV talking heads and the late-night talk-show hosts go into their "Did you hear what he just said?" mode.
But imagine if Trump simply shut up and governed. The New York Times had an article the other day headlined "In a sign of the economy's strength, jobs and wages moved higher in August."
The article was packed with good news about the economy: "Employers fattened payrolls by 201,000 jobs; the jobless rate remained under 4 percent, near territory not seen since the 1960s; and average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier," it said.
That's the sort of news that tends to help the governing party do well in midterm Congressional elections. But it's quickly overshadowed by whatever joke or wisecrack Trump made on some issue that a normal politician would have ignored.
A lot of Republicans are urging The Donald to clam up. Typical was Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who said on a Sunday morning talk show, "I don't have any desire to beat this president up, but it's pretty clear that this White House is a reality-show, soap-opera presidency."
I beg to differ. I'd say the roots of The Donald's style go back much further - to the comedians of the old Borscht Belt.
I first recognized this when I first saw Trump speak as far back as 2011 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. While the other potential presidential candidates would recite a litany of cliches, Trump would have the audience rolling in the aisles with his one-liners, all delivered with perfect timing.
I'm not the only one who noticed this. Recently I came across a 2015 opinion piece by a lawyer by the name of Clifford A. Rieders.
In it, Rieders told how his father was a contractor who worked for The Donald's father Fred. As part of one deal his father made, Rieders got to stay in a cottage in the Catskills near one of those resorts that offered a stream of old-time comedians. Trump copied their style perfectly, according to Rieders.
"Donald Trump is surging in the polls because he has a shtick. He is very much like a borscht belt entertainer, memorable because of how he speaks and the way he presents himself, rather than his content," he wrote. "The experts will have to parse the substance of Trump's message, if any, but his entertainment value should not be underestimated."
It was - and it still is. All too many Washington insiders take at face value statements Trump clearly delivers as jokes.
One is the humorless Bob Woodward of the Washington Post whose new book on Trump titled "Fear" is getting lots of publicity.
"You look at the operation of this White House and you have to say, 'Let's hope to God we don't have a crisis,' " Woodward said on a Sunday morning talk show.
Of course, you could say that about almost any administration - and Woodward has. Here's the review from his own Washington Post of his 1994 book on the Clinton administration:
"The book describes Clinton temper tantrums, and it depicts him as frequently indecisive and reluctant to delegate. It portrays virtually every member of Clinton's inner circle, including the first lady, as critical of the president's management style."
I guess that sort of thing sells books. But in hindsight, historians tend to agree Clinton was quite an accomplished politician and president.
One reason for his success, I suspect, is that as a comedian Clinton is every bit as talented as Trump, though his humor was of the Ozark rather than the Catskills variety. Voters like to be entertained, and he entertained them well.
As for Trump, it's pointless for his fellow Republicans to try to muzzle him. The closer we get to the midterm elections, the more it looks like they need him to gin up some enthusiasm for GOP Congressional candidates.
A Monmouth Poll released yesterday of eight bellwether Congressional districts around the nation shows "voter opinion of Trump is evenly divided at 49 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove," but "the anti-Trump vote is more galvanized than the pro-Trump vote."
Will the comedian-in-chief be able to reverse that with his Borscht Belt sense of humor?
I have no idea.
But as always with The Donald, it will be fun to watch.
PLUS - A GREAT EXAMPLE OF TRUMP'S COMIC TIMING:
THEN THERE'S THIS SPEECH: