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Clout: Trump meltdown imminent?

Plus: Councilman Al Taubenberger isn’t feeling the Bern, and a super PAC backs its founder in the 8th Congressional District.

Donald Trump at a rally this week in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
Donald Trump at a rally this week in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.Read moreAndrew Rush/Post-Gazette)

BAD HEADLINES cling to Donald Trump like toilet paper to the heel of his shoe.

No surprise there. The GOP presidential front-runner and darling of the Ku Klux Klan says something nonsensical or asinine most days of the week.

But even we were caught off guard Wednesday night by Trump's awkward attempt to connect with Pennsylvanians during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh.

"I know a lot about Pennsylvania and it's great," he said. "How's Joe Paterno?"

Well, he's dead, Donald. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Other than that, JoePa's doing about as well as can be expected.

Trump, reading from a sheet of paper that was as useful as Chip Kelly's playbook, followed up that icebreaker by asking: "Do we love Penn State?"

Some in the crowd booed, according to Sam Cooper of Yahoo! Sports, probably because Pittsburgh has more Pitt fans than Penn State fans. The headline on that story: Donald Trump apparently doesn't know Joe Paterno is dead.

But, hold on! A Trump spokeswoman (talk about the worst job in the country) clarified that her boss was actually "talking about the Penn State bronze statue that they melted down."

Except the statue of the late coach was never melted down, aside from in an April Fools' blog post at Onward State last year. "A lot of turd polish went into that excuse," tweeted Minnesota business owner Michael Wiley.

And you want to give Trump control of America's 7,000-bomb nuclear arsenal? What if the Xinhua news agency runs an April Fools' story about China's invading California? Next thing you know, we're nuking Beijing.

Trump's campaign was already struggling before it crash-landed in Pittsburgh. The favorite (somehow) to win New York's Republican presidential primary election on Tuesday - and the primary in Pennsylvania the following week - has spent much of April whining about Ted Cruz, a meanie-weenie senator from Texas who has been scooping up GOP delegates in states where The Donald took first place in primaries.

Have you ever heard a billionaire complain this much that life is unfair? And is it any surprise that sensible Republicans are coming to the realization that nominating a neo-fascist hatemonger for president might not be the best way to expand the Party of Lincoln?

But this isn't the first time that Trump - whose policy proposals include banning Muslims from the United States and suing reporters who refuse to sing his praises - has thrown a temper tantrum about the "rules."

It's Trump's modus operandi. Anyone who followed the development of casino gambling in Pennsylvania can attest to that.

In 2005, the real estate mogul was eager to expand his casino brand to Pennsylvania and his then-pal, then-Gov. Ed Rendell, encouraged him to apply for a state license.

But Rendell - who took $32,000 in Trump campaign contributions between 2001 and 2003 - was not a big fan of the Nicetown location where Trump staked his bid for a casino. Neither was the Gaming Control Board, which turned Trump down in 2006, in part because of his location but also because of concerns that he would use Pennsylvania to funnel customers to his casinos in Atlantic City, which were just coming out of bankruptcy.

Trump, like now, stomped his feet. He called the decision an "outrageous" example of political inside dealing, and knocked Rendell as "doing a lousy job as governor."

And he didn't stop at name-calling. Trump sued the Gaming Control Board in federal court. (He lost.) He also petitioned the board to let him reapply for the license. (He lost that, too.)

By 2009, Trump's casinos were back in bankruptcy and he was no longer involved with the company.

Back to the present: Trump already has threatened to sue Cruz over campaign ads, and has whipped voters into such a frenzy that they're talking about hanging Cruz supporters and tracking down their relatives. Trump also has warned of "riots" in Cleveland if the Republican National Convention doesn't go his way.

Is this what he meant by Make America Great Again?

Al not feeling the Bern

City Councilman Al Taubenberger had some 'splainin' to do this week after a photo of him hanging out with Bernie Sanders surfaced on Facebook.

Taubenberger, a Republican, is seen standing behind the Vermont senator at a union rally and applauding as the Democratic presidential candidate speaks. Bad optics.

"The chairman of the party did call me and wanted to know what the hell I was doing," Taubenberger said, referring to Philly GOP Chairman Joe DeFelice.

Don't worry, city Republicans - Are any of you out there? Hello? - Taubenberger assured us Thursday that he was only at the Communications Workers of America rally on Monday to support the workers in their labor dispute with Verizon.

"When I finished up, there was Bernie Sanders," Taubenberger said, adding that he is not supporting Sanders, a self-described "democratic socialist," for president.

"I'm definitely voting Republican," Taubenberger said, although he declined to elaborate.

Can we suggest a nice fella from Ohio named John Kasich?

Probably a coincidence

We already were asking questions about shady campaign tactics in the 8th Congressional District race when 314 PAC put out a weekend hit piece attacking Steve Santarsiero.

314 PAC, a so-called super PAC named after the value of pi (about 3.14), was founded in 2014 by Shaughnessy Naughton, supposedly to recruit and support candidates with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Naughton, a scientist, happens to be running in the Democratic primary against Santarsiero, who is blasted in 314 PAC's mailer as an "all talk, no results" politician. The PAC's political director happens to be a former Naughton campaign staffer and the PAC happened to pay $20,000 - the lion's share of the money it has raised so far - to Josh Morrow between July and December of last year.

Who is Morrow? He happens to be listed as Naughton's campaign treasurer in documents filed with the Federal Election Commission in March 2015. Naughton's campaign happened to pay Morrow $16,144 last year - some of it overlapping with the 314 PAC payments.

Oh, yeah, Morrow also happens to be Naughton's fiance.

The 314 PAC mailer said it was "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee." Super PACs and candidates are not allowed to coordinate their activities. So, surely, this is all just a coincidence.

We asked 314 PAC spokeswoman Harmony Knutson - who happened to contribute $1,000 to Naughton's campaign in September - whether 314 PAC has spent money in any other races this cycle.

As it happens, it has not.

- Staff writers William Bender,

Chris Brennan, and Nick Vadala

contributed to this column.

On Twitter: @wbender99 and @ByChrisBrennan

Email: benderw@phillynews.com and brennac@phillynews.com

Phone: 215-854-5255 and 215-854-5973