Inside Trump Tower, a restless figure stirred in the pre-dawn darkness, nursing his grievances and grabbing a device that often lands him in hot water.
On his Android phone, Donald Trump began to tap out bursts of digital fury: he mocked Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe and a popular Latin American actress, as a "con," the "worst" and "disgusting".
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Trump's Twitter tirade against former Miss Universe
Taking to Twitter to deepen his attack on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump posts online at 3am.
In a final flourish, the Republican presidential nominee claimed - without offering any evidence - that she had appeared in a "sex tape".
The tirade fit a pattern. It is when Trump is alone with his thoughts, and untethered from his campaign staff, that he has seemed to commit his most self-destructive acts.
![Donald Trump defended his Twitter attack on Alicia Machado.](/web/20161002191538im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/s/s/8/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grstxg.png/1475384667034.jpg)
"There has always been this dangerous part of him that will go too far and do something that backfires," said Michael D'Antonio, the author of a new biography of the real estate mogul.
"His worst impulses," he added, "are self-defeating."
Over the past few days, those instincts have been on vivid display. In quick succession, Trump has repeated his critique that Machado gained a "massive amount of weight" after she won the Miss Universe crown in 1996; suggested that former President Bill Clinton's infidelities are fair game for campaign attacks; and urged his followers to "check out" a sex tape that may not exist. (Machado appeared in a risque scene on a reality television show, but fact-checkers have discovered no sex tape).
The eruptions could further damage Trump's reputation with women and Latino voters at a time when he can scarcely afford to alienate either group, 5 ½ weeks before Election Day.
![Trump claimed former Miss Universe Alicia Machado appeared in a sex tape.](/web/20161002191538im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/p/t/j/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grstxg.png/1475283940302.jpg)
Yet for close students of Trump's career and campaign, it all has a familiar ring. Over the years, he has issued a stream of needlessly cruel and seemingly off-the-cuff insults - both on and off social media - that have inflamed the public. He declared on Twitter that Kim Novak, a reclusive 81-year-old actress at the time, "should sue her plastic surgeon," sending her into hiding. He derided the appearance of a rival, Carly Fiorina, angering female voters by asking: "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" And he criticised the mother of a slain American soldier, musing that, as a Muslim woman, she was not "allowed" to speak, undercutting his campaign momentum at a crucial time.
Such fulminations have almost always arisen from Trump's wounded pride, after he has been attacked or has suffered a setback. And they have frequently played out on Twitter, at unusual hours of the day when much of America is fast asleep.
![Hillary Clinton branded Trump 'unhinged' over the tweets.](/web/20161002191538im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/s/s/8/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grstxg.png/1475384667098.jpg)
The early-morning tweets about Machado were a reminder, said Republican strategist Charles Black, that Trump "cannot let something drop until he proves he's right, and it's beside the point who's right."
Around midnight one night during the primary campaign, he posted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz, the wife of his Republican rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Early one morning, he alleged a sexual affair between two well-known television anchors who had criticised him. Early one Saturday, he distributed an image of Hillary Clinton, surrounded by falling cash and a six-pointed star that many said was a Star of David and was anti-Semitic. And at 11pm one evening, he shared a digitally-altered image of Jeb Bush appearing to pick his nose.
![Alicia Machado made headlines after the first presidential debate.](/web/20161002191538im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/w/5/x/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grstxg.png/1475283940302.jpg)
"Late night Twitter-drunk Donald is back at it!" an aide to Bush replied at the time.
On Friday morning, Trump was at it again between 3:20 and 5:30am, issuing a series of indignant messages that mocked Machado and Clinton, who raised the experience of the former beauty queen to hurt Trump during the debate.
Clinton, he wrote "was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an 'angel' without checking her past, which is terrible!"
A few minutes later, Trump theorised - again, without offering any evidence - that Clinton had helped Machado become a US citizen so that the Democratic nominee could mention the beauty queen in the debate to hurt Trump.
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Trump, in an interview on Friday afternoon, said he remained proud of his tweets about Machado.
"Why would I have regrets? I'm a very truthful person, and I'm telling the truth. Now people understand it. And before the tweets, people didn't understand it."
It is unusual for a major party presidential nominee to directly control any online communications, let alone issue provocative, unsubstantiated claims without the filter of a campaign aide.
But Trump is fixated on Twitter: he has nearly 12 million followers and has revelled in watching his stray thoughts become viral sensations on the social media platform. He has been fond of quoting a fan on Twitter, who described him as "the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters."
So like a car careening down a highway with no guardrails, Trump on Friday crafted one inadvisable tweet after another. His suggestion of a sex tape featuring Machado sent his most zealous followers hunting for images of the former Miss Universe. A few of them posted pornographic images of women who, they believe, resembled Machado.
Machado on Friday called Trump's online assault "cheap lies with bad intentions" and said that she would not be intimidated.
Aides to Clinton, who have long warned of his reckless ways on Twitter, said Trump's behaviour had once again bolstered their argument that he is mentally unfit for the presidency.
"I mean, his latest Twitter meltdown is unhinged, even for him," Clinton said on Friday.
What kind of man stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 30, 2016
"Really, who gets up at 3 o'clock in the morning to engage in a Twitter attack against a former Miss Universe?" she asked.
Many wondered aloud on Friday whether Trump's erratic late-night behavior is the result of disorienting insomnia, since he regularly boasts of needing only a few hours of sleep. But Trump quickly rejected that theory.
"For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o'clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!" Trump tweeted.
Not everyone in his life seems so sure. Asked this year which habit she wished her husband would quit, Melania Trump gave a one-word answer: tweeting.
New York Times