Like with a volcano that just erupted – or more aptly, blew up – cinders and ashes continue to float down from the sky after last Tuesday night’s first-in-the-cycle presidential debate between three-time Republican nominee Donald J. Trump and newly minted Democrat fill-in candidate Kamala Harris.
Most of the commentary from the right side of the ideological spectrum revolved around Trump missing too many opportunities and allowing himself to be led away from his main arguments (and can’t miss message) by distractions and shiny objects that have nothing to do with what he’s trying to accomplish – which, right now, is winning the election.
As Trump himself has frequently maintained – mostly when tackling the abortion issue – if you’re a politician and don’t win the election, you don’t govern. That’s the point Trump appears to be missing these days, as a hefty portion of the time he spends addressing the public is wasted on minutia that doesn’t matter a lick to the good people in this country, you know, the ones, as George Bailey said in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, who do the “working and paying and living and dying” in this country.
Conservatives get it that Trump is ego and legacy driven and one of his deepest impulses is to defend himself against unfair charges against him. After what he’s been through, understandably so. But his insatiable urge to stand up for himself is detracting from his end goal – which is prevailing at the ballot box. Somebody, somewhere, has to help him realize that he isn’t aiding his cause by acting the Don Quixote chasing his own personal set of windmills.
Who would the wise counselor be? Maybe Don Jr. or his son Eric (and wife Lara Trump), or his own wife, Melania Trump. Or, as I’ve suggested a few times recently, Kellyanne Conway. These are all potential voices of reason who could guide him back to the right path, bring discipline to his campaign and make for better uses of his precious time.
Sad to say, the Trump “old” model isn’t working any longer – at least not to the extent he’d need to guarantee a good result in 2024. No one blames Trump for desiring to keep his traditionally successful formula, since it’s gotten him much further than anyone would have ever given him credit for -- but what we saw in Philadelphia was not a winning strategy. Being Trump the outsider alone won’t do it. His performance looked for most of the conservative world like playing to his worst instincts, which was not helpful to his cause.
If it’s true that there is no “cause” but victory now, Trump must adjust.
Trump’s ardent backers must level with him, too. At this stage of his life, the thing Donald Trump despises most in the entire world is the prospect he could go out as a two-time loser of the presidency, especially to a roundly mediocre set of political opponents like senile Joe Biden and, gulp, Kamala Harris, a woman even her friends were embarrassed to be around just a couple months ago. And he doesn’t want to wait to fix his emphasis until it’s no longer possible to switch. Six weeks from now, it will be too late.
He's in it to win it, and nothing else. Trump would endure taking a bullet just to give himself a lasting platform for his fame. His enemies’ assertions of his only being “in it for himself” have gone on long enough. There’s a greater purpose here for Trump, a larger mission – to defend and advocate for the American Dream. Trump will achieve none of these aims unless he finds a means to correct his public relations problems and improve his image.
Is an intervention needed after last week? We’d better commence with it while we still can and while there’s still time.
How did he screw up in Philadelphia? Let us count the ways. In an opinion piece titled “Trump vs. Harris: A Night to Forget”, the always astute – and directly honest – Daniel Oliver wrote at American Greatness after the debate:
“The problem was he sounded too much like… Donald Trump. He missed major opportunities to set the record straight. He truncated his sentences so they became almost meaningless unless you knew what he was (or should have been) trying to say. He can get away with that at rallies, though the teleprompters help keep him on track, but not in a live debate...
“By now Trump should have perfected a response to that attack—which would keep people from making it. Something along the lines of: ‘The people in Charlottesville were protesting the removal of a historic statue. There were some nasty people in that crowd. But there were also some people who saw value in preserving historic monuments, even of people who were far from perfect. Is Vice President Harris prepared to say, standing here tonight, that there were not even two decent people in that whole crowd? How does she know that? She doesn’t—and she doesn’t even care. She’s just in it for the cheap shot.’
“But Trump didn’t have that in him—he doesn’t have it in him. He looked old. And tried. And grumpy.”
Ouch. Trump probably hates being placed alongside senile Joe Biden, but the comparisons are inevitable when the two are from the same age group and, well, anger easily and let lightweights like Kamala Harris goad them into responding to every basic provocation. How many times did you mumble to yourself that you just wished he would stop wandering off course and stick to talking about how awful Kamala’s record is the other night?
It was a no brainer. Yet Trump couldn’t focus. It reminded me of a recent bout I had with a virus where I couldn’t think straight. Sounds weird, doesn’t it?
A few initial steps should help Trump return to where he needs to be.
Trump must concede that his PR strategy is old and stale. He doesn’t need to send out a press release or other kind of general acknowledgment, but he could admit privately to Sean Hannity or Elon Musk or Tucker Carlson that he acknowledges his shortcomings and vow to be better between now and, well, until the election is determined.
Trump still enjoys a number of advantages he can lean on in a time of need.
First, he’s got a verifiable record – a good record, if he would only learn to talk about it and defend it in a manner that doesn’t sound like he’s covering his own failings, boasting or butt-covering. Just the facts would probably do it. “I built all the wall Congress would authorize.”, or, “we’ll do more in a second term using what we learned from our first try and the lessons from Biden and Kamala”.
Second, the media still wants him. With Kamala Harris likely maintaining her aversion to any and all types of interviews and public appearances, Trump will enjoy virtually unlimited opportunities to make people forget about the mistakes of last Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Cable news shows still need guests, and Trump generates ratings no matter when or where he’s on TV. Producers will be calling; use the opportunities to talk about the economy, immigration and the Democrats’ “woke” cultural agenda. Tie it all to Kamala, of course.
Third, Kamala’s coaching paid off and she deftly deflected away the gaping holes in her record, both personally (is she a communist?) and in her current capacity as senile Joe Biden’s errand girl. Or as I prefer to call her, senile Joe’s beck and call girl. Therefore, there is still more than enough time to continue to define and label Harris if only Trump would put a lid on some of his more annoying and off-putting habits to venture back into butt-covering mode.
Fourth, the election is that important. Trump has been campaigning pretty much non-stop for the presidency for about two years now – and this only includes the time since he officially declared his 2024 candidacy. A reasonable person would surmise that he’s got to be sick of it, yet campaigning is obviously what stimulates Trump to keep going every day as he heads towards his 79th birthday next year.
As Trump himself has pointed out many times, he doesn’t need politics to lead a fulfilling life. He could certainly content himself with delving into the family business that he founded and honed throughout his life. Or, as a former president, he could travel the globe and work with the world leaders who adhere to his philosophies, etc.
But no, Trump keeps going for one reason alone: love of country. This is the message that gets lost when he loses self-discipline and reflexively begins a kneejerk defense of some trivial aspect of his background, such as crowd size. Or, who cares if Kamala Harris criticizes how he originally got his money from his father (even if it’s only partially true). Everyone on God’s green earth realizes that Trump has grown up in privilege and probably has never painted his back porch or had to change the HVAC filters in his house.
None of this makes a difference to people who value success and the policies that Trump would implement to help make other people excel. Look at Vivek Ramaswamy who himself has accumulated quite a fortune through his own smarts and due diligence. Or use Trump’s own running mate, J.D. Vance, as yet another shining example of a boy who’s done well in America.
Trump’s reliance on his political smarts still works in many circumstances, but he could definitely use some fine tuning. He has more than enough substantive weapons to deploy against his enemies if he would only use them. It involves being more disciplined and smarter, and more aware of the moment. Is winning important enough to him to improve?
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