In the week since the end of the Democratic National Convention, the 2016 election cycle has become like no election cycle in the history of our democracy. Predictably, Donald Trump is right in the center. From refusing to endorse Republican leaders, to asking why he can’t use nuclear weapons, Mr. Trump has really outdone himself. This week has highlighted some of the most glaring issues and flaws in the Trump candidacy. Here’s a review of Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

Strange Interview

While taking with ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos about foreign affairs, Trump told Americans, quite emphatically that Russia would not go into the Ukraine. Stephanopoulos, attempting to hide his confusion, pointed out to the Republican nominee the well-known fact that Russian soldiers had been in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea for nearly two years now and that Crimea had been forcibly annexed by Russia. The candidate’s apparent misunderstanding of the Russian position has called into question his level of understanding of global politics. In the same interview with Stephanopoulos, Trump doubled down on his attack of the Khan family who spoke at the Democratic National Convention about the death of their son in Iraq and questions if Trump had ever sacrificed for his country. Donald insinuated that Mrs. Khan “maybe was not allowed to speak” at the DNC because of her Muslim faith and argued that he had made many sacrifices for the nation, including making lots of money and running his company. Watch the whole interview for yourself.

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Unfit For Office

One of the major arguments of Democrats last week was that Donald Trump is a moral hazard for the country and unfit for the Office of the Presidency. Trump seems to be playing right into this narrative. Early in the week at a press conference in Florida, Trump called on Russian intelligence agents to hack the Democratic Party saying, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Apparently referring to 30,000 emails deemed personal by Secretary Clinton and deleted, this comment came quickly on the heels of revelations that Russians had already violated the security of the Democratic National Committee. To make matters even easier for the Clinton campaign, during a security briefing Trump apparently asked three times why the use of nuclear weapons was not a proposed solution. Both these revelations are self-inflecting distractions for the Trump campaign which reveal glaring issues with the nominee’s understanding of major national security issues.

Belittling Military Sacrifices

Amid the Trump’s controversial comments attacking the Khan Family, who lost their son in Iraq, former Presidential nominee and solider in Vietnam, Republican Senator John McCain released a statement denouncing Trump’s attacks and begging the American people to understand that his unpatriotic comments do not represent the views of other members of the Republican Party. McCain was among other Republican leaders who again distanced themselves from Trump’s comments while refusing to withdraw their endorsements of his campaign.

While the Trump campaign might have been able to pivot away from the issue eventually, Trump just put his foot on the gas. During a campaign event later in the week, a Vietnam veteran presented Trump with the Purple Heart he had earned. In response, the candidate for Commander-in-Chief said he had “always wanted a Purple Heart” and that “this was an easier way to get one.” These comments are incredibly callous and demeaning of the sacrifice of veterans around the country, but are especially bad in light of a New York Times story published on Monday. While apparently the image of physical heath, the New York reveled that Trump had received five draft deferments during Vietnam, one of which was for a bone spur in his heel. When asked about the nature of the spurs, Trump had characterized them as very minor and had been unable to recall which foot had been afflicted, calling into question the honesty of these deferments. Read the complete NY Times story online.

Republicans Are Fleeing

As Trump dug himself into more self inflicted controversy some Republicans this week publicly announced their defection from the candidate. Rep. Richard Hanna of New York has made a statement this week saying, "For me, it is not enough to simply denounce [Trump’s] comments: He is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country.” Mr. Hanna also said that he will be voting for Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Along with Hanna, staff advisors to Jeb Bush and Chris Christie have stated they plan to vote for Clinton as well. Major donors to Republicans have thrown their support to Hillary Clinton and her universe of Super PACs. In a particularly sharply worded and aggressive statement, the Harvard Republican Club announced their refusal to endorse Trump saying he “holds views that are antithetical to our values not only as Republicans, but as Americans.”

Everything is “Rigged”

Trump also incited controversy by saying to his supporters at a rally that the presidential election would be “rigged” and insinuating that he would not be able to win because of some kind of electioneering effort. The rationale for these comments, along with their political impetus, remain unclear as they seem to encourage his supporters to stay home due to his inability to win. No candidate in modern American politics has ever publicly questioned the legitimacy of U.S. elections, which has been a cornerstone of America’s democratic success.

Trump has not attempted to walk back these statements but rather continued questioning the legitimacy of major institutions. During a rally on Tuesday, the real estate mogul discouraged supporters from investing in the American stock market and warned of “very scary scenarios” saying he no longer traded stocks. While his business record is clearly mixed, Trump’s advice could encourage many Americans to withdraw their investments, thus inciting the very chaos Trump predicted.

Divided Campaign

In an unprecedented move, Trump refused to endorse the Republican leaders Paul Ryan and John McCain both of whom endorsed Trump after some weeks of indecision and who have repeatedly denounced some of Trump’s most controversial comments. In a confusing move by the campaign, Trump’s running mate Mike Pence broke with the candidate to endorse Speaker of the House Paul Ryan while making no comment about the public divisions in the Republican Party this spontaneous breach of tradition has highlighted. In a painful flip, Trump did eventually endorse Speaker Ryan and Senator McCain at an event on Friday night.

Every candidate for the presidency has bad news cycles and so a single bad week for the Trump campaign is not indicative of total failure. It is rather the self-inflicted nature of these bad stories that has lead many to question the strength of the campaign moving forward. Donald’s apparent inability to moderate his rhetoric has lead to comments which are not simply fuel for a dumpster fire of a news week but represent views and ideas which are major threats to the American democracy.