Hair-raising Trump

Had he run out of insults to levy at Republican rival Jeb Bush, who has of late been bombarded with references to his dullness? Or was Donald Trump simply bored at a meeting in South Carolina?

Whatever it was, in one of the more memorable moments since the GOP was infected with Trumpitis some months ago, Donald Trump called a woman from the audience to join him on stage in Greenville, South Carolina.

At issue: a New York Times story quoting someone as saying Trump wears a toupee.

“It’s my hair, I swear,” Trump told his South Carolina audience, and then waved energetically to a woman in the audience. He invited her to come up and pull his hair, only a bit you understand, and then asked her to testify to its ... well ... authenticity. Mary Margaret Bannister pulled on the Trump hair just a little and in answer to the question as to whether it was real, said, “I do believe it is.” Trump raised his arms and quickly ushered her from the stage with a compliment.

Facebook and other social media sights, of course, have already detailed how Trump accomplishes his exotic, trademark comb-over. And the answer, my friend, so to speak, has been blowin’ in the wind a time or two during interviews.

But really? Having someone pull his locks during a campaign rally? The Trump campaign edges ever closer to being the circus his rivals say it already is. It might be “fun for children of all ages.” But it’s wearing thin (no hair reference there) on everyone else.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Hair-raising Trump."