Photo credit: Gage Skidmore
It has been a lousy week for Donald Trump. I have to wonder if he realizes the general election has started since he seems to be doing everything except campaign against Hillary Clinton. ABC News reports that “senior GOP officials” are considering what to do should he drop out. NBC reports that supporters are going to stage an intervention.
Look, he’s not dropping out. No way he’s dropping out. I would be SHOCKED if any like that happened. Yes, he’s unpredictable, but I just don’t see him dropping out.
I’ve been wrong about Trump before though, and the fact this is even being discussed is remarkable.
Those who balked at Trump being replaced at convention won’t love what happens should he drop out since replacement would then be selected by the 168 member Republican National Committee, perhaps having the delegates vote their conscience wouldn’t have been a bad thing after all huh?
Regardless of this noise, and that is what it is right now, noise. Trump has made one mistake after another.
He seems like he wants to attack everybody except Hillary Clinton. He has gone after Ted Cruz, the Khan family, Paul Ryan, John McCain, Kelley Ayotte… basically anybody but Hillary Clinton.
Regarding the Khans I have to ask what possible good does it do Trump to attack a gold star family? Seriously? What will this accomplish? It just looks bad. You don’t attack the family of a fallen soldier – period. This is so unprecedented to see a presidential candidate go after an individual convention speaker like this, especially considering he is a private citizen and until the Democratic National Convention was largely unknown. Breitbart can run all of the articles it wants trying to discredit Khizir Khan, but it won’t matter. It was stupid to do and all he has done is extend the story and makes himself look bad to just about everyone except his staunch supporters.
Trump’s refusal to endorse Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) or U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) does not surprise me. Have we seen any instance yet of him providing support for anyone who either refused to support him right away or attacked him? I haven’t. It isn’t his M.O.
Trump appears to think he can win through subtraction, and unity has never appeared to be a goal of his.
He has problems in the Badger State that playing nice with Ryan could have helped. Wisconsin’s three top Republicans Governor Scott Walker, Speaker Ryan and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) are skipping Trump’s upcoming Wisconsin event. They may not need Trump, but he needs them if he is going to have a prayer in Wisconsin.
His interview with The Washington Post was just odd from his statements about the election being rigged, to whining about the Louisiana and Colorado delegate selection process, blaming the media for the Khan story’s traction, the discussion on sexual harassment among other statements did not paint the picture of a serious candidate.
His comments to the woman with a crying baby at his rally in Ashburn, VA were simply odd. I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but presidential candidates just don’t do or say things like this if, for nothing else, than to avoid giving media extra fodder. It was totally avoidable. That said the media made it sound worse than it actually was, and Josh Pinho, who attended the rally, said that it played completely differently in person.
You decide.
The Trump train is wobbly, but hasn’t experienced a derailment yet. I doubt just one meeting will be an adequate course correction. Then again, I never thought that Trump would magically become “presidential” just because he won the nomination.
But talk of him dropping out of the race or becoming “presidential” is just wishful thinking.
