But I would says he uses it all the time. I am not sure if I would feel better if it was the act of evil genius or if they really are that bad. But either way getting spun up about one more stupid statement is pointless and getting offended because you choose to take it in way it wasn't meant is worse than pointless.
He did it all the way through the election nad it was depressingly affective. It is the drip drip drip of scandals that hurts and since they can't focus none of them really hurt him. They tried to focus on him being tied to Russia with interfering with the election but they were hampered but they complete lack of anything to support it so they just jumped around with "he shouldn't have said that" "unnamed sources say" and "according to professor dipshit from far left university thinks" The problem is the media let their bias trip them up and they can't accept the real reason their side lost.
A year ago I would have said constant displays of incompetence would hurt but then he won the nomination and then the election so I was wrong. It seems that enough people have deiced they are tired of the polished political double speak and wants someone who says things that haven't been vetted and they care more about that than if he says dumb things or things that are not actual facts. The drunk uncle at the Christmas party is getting his day in the sun.
I thought he was dead when he said McCain was no hero because he was a POW but that didn't seem to matter. Most of the republicans who voted for him would have went insane if a democrat had said that. He is Teflon when it comes to dumb statements and they actually help him in some sort of weird we want different bizzaro way.