Are ScoMo’s public utterances modeled on Donald Trump’s? Photos (clockwise from top left): Independent Australia, Australian Independent Media, Daily Telegraph, Twitter (John Setka).

Most election seasons have it. That “defining moment when commentators and mug punters alike nod in knowing unison: “he (or she) is gone”.

For Paul Keating (1996) it was mid-debate, when he didn’t know the price of a loaf of bread but John Howard did. For Howard (2007) it was when “The Chaser” crew brought “Doc Brown’s DeLorean” (of “Back to the Future” fame) to one of his Sydney Harbour power walks: “We can go back in time … so you can get rid of Work Choices and win!”.

Scott Morrison might have had his “defining moment” on Wednesday, when a series of calamities punctuated what was already a week from hell. It began late that afternoon, when teen journalist Leo Puglisi published his full, fiery interview with Morrison from the previous week.

Puglisi, the teenager who founded 6 News while still in primary school, spent much of the interview in tense debate with Morrison over what the latter labelled “juvenile” allegations of lying.

“We presented him with his own words — such as denying that he called former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari ‘Shanghai Sam’. He told us that he did indeed say that (but) had been taken ‘out of context’ by media outlets”, Puglisi wrote in “Crikey”.

“Effectively (he was) denying his denial”.

Puglisi went on to cite fact-checkers from the ABC, and Crikey’s dossier of what they call 50 lies and falsehoods on Morrison’s part, to which the PM responded: “That’s not a good start, if you’re starting with Crikey and you’re talking about credibility it’s not a good start.”

Morrison pointedly failed to address falsehoods the ABC had picked up on, or indeed dispute any of the 50 alleged lies and misleading statements compiled by Crikey. Instead, he “shot the messenger”, by repeating that old chestnut on the right: sites like Crikey and others peddle leftist propaganda.

The second mishap, at 6.30pm, was more of a bombshell. Channel 10’s “The Project” interviewed Michael Towke, the man who had accused Morrison of strong-arming him out of pre-selection for his seat of Cook in 2007.

Towke claimed “a sitting cabinet minister” had texted “I believe you” regarding the allegations, in which Morrison was accused of asking none other than Sam Dastyari (the man he later labeled “Shanghai Sam”, above) for a dirt file on Towke, and of coded racism (to paraphrase: Towke can’t be trusted because he’s of Lebanese descent, was “a Moslem” – which is untrue – and would struggle to win the Cronulla-based Cook less than two years after the anti-Lebanese riots there).

Later in the interview, Towke claimed the PM only won pre-selection for Cook because Towke had been coerced into throwing his supporter base behind Morrison (or “you’ll never get another job”).

Earlier, Morrison had denied the allegations and said he was prepared to sign a statutory declaration to that effect, only to back away from that later because he had “no interest in chasing those matters for legal (defamation) purposes”.

If a “sitting Cabinet minister” sending devastating texts about Morrison sounds familiar, it’s because in February, text messages between another Federal minister and then-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian labelling the PM a “complete psycho” and a “horrible, horrible man” were leaked to Channel 10’s Peter van Onselen.

On Monday night, Morrison claimed Berejiklian had flatly denied sending the offending texts, only to back away from that when the full text exchange, confirming the then-Premier’s words, was leaked to News Corp.

This deluge of double-talk – on Berejiklian’s texts (“I misspoke”) on lies being “taken out of context”, and refuting Towke’s allegations, which were believed by none other than a cabinet minister – confirm that disingenuousness is now a Morrison hallmark.

After a day of tribulations, Morrison sought to unwind with an unannounced visit to a Newcastle pub. That was a bad idea, Prime Minister.

A quick-thinking heckler went up and asked for a selfie with our photo op-motivated PM, only to be ambushed with the words: “congratulations on being the worst Prime Minister we’ve ever had”. As you can see from the clip above, that trademark Morrison smirk quickly disappeared.

“I’m kicking myself for not having a plan in place for this situation and it’s the best I could do on short notice,” the heckler, teacher Chantelle Howlett tweeted. She’s selling herself short there.

But that wasn’t the end of Morrison’s nightmare. The PM later faced that scourge of all politicians, the angry pensioner.

“Listen to me for a change,” disability pensioner Ray Drury butted in over Morrison talking points. “You can have a million dollar house, $250,000 in the bank and franking credits, but a disability pensioner can’t have an income”.

“You know another promise you made. You were going to have a (Federal ICAC)”, Ray added. He certainly was, Ray, but that was 2019.

A couple of expletives later, Ray was escorted away by security.

Wednesday was the perfect Prime Ministerial storm: exposed in the media for duplicitous rhetoric before being berated in a pub for his sub-par performance.

One only wishes Crikey (which managed to compile 50 Morrison lies and falsehoods) had resources like the “Washington Post”, which put together a list of 30,573 lies and misleading claims by Morrison’s fellow traveller, Donald Trump, over the course of a four-year presidency.

They’re coming for you with baseball bats, Scott. Pack your bags.