Floundering Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went off on an unhinged Twitter rant Sunday morning, where he blamed the media for his plummeting polling numbers.Trump began his rant by targeting the New York Times. The paper published an article entitled Inside the Failing Mission to Tame Trump s Tongue on Saturday. Trump is apparently furious with The Gray Lady for publishing the piece.  The failing @nytimes has become a newspaper of fiction,  writes Trump.  Their stories about me always quote non-existent unnamed sources. Very dishonest! The failing @nytimes has become a newspaper of fiction. Their stories about me always quote non-existent unnamed sources. Very dishonest!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2016The article that has Trump throwing a temper tantrum that primarily focuses on failed attempts to pivot Trump more towards the middle. Allegedly, there has been a concentrated effort in the Trump campaign to tone down his rhetoric, and those efforts have failed. A strategy like this is fairly typical in a switch from running in a primary campaign to running in a general election. If you re a Republican, you need to position yourself to the right of your opponent(s) to rally the GOP s conservative base. Then, in the general, you move towards the middle to appeal to swing voters.However, it s Trump, so he took umbrage with the New York Times article s reporting on the matter, saying,  The failing @nytimes, which never spoke to me, keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change. False, I am who I am-never said. The failing @nytimes, which never spoke to me, keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change. False, I am who I am-never said  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016Trump is who he says he is. That s why it shouldn t be too surprising that he had to resort to creating a conspiracy theory to blame for his lousy polling numbers,  If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%. If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016Like most Trump Twitter outbursts, it can be hard to examine such obviously flawed logic seriously. Sure, there a lot of problems with mainstream media coverage. However, those problems have only worked to help Trump. The press loves a gaffe, and Trump fires them off like a right-winger who just got his hands on their first AR-15. It s lead to him receiving an incredible number of free media play. It s what made his campaign what it is today. However, this is a general election and that strategy just does not cut it.Now is the time for Trump to act like a real politician. Since Trump doesn t have any experience governing or running for office, he s failing. Trump cannot recover, so all he has left is vague conspiracies to blame. Never mind the fact that Trump has blackballed major and small media outlets for his entire campaign. Never mind the fact that he started a feud with gold star family. Never mind the fact that he forgot that Russia had annexed Crimea only two years ago.Trump just cannot accept that he is a failed politician, the same way he cannot accept that he is a failed businessman.Featured image from Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images