Last month, as Democrats weighed replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, reports emerged that the Trump campaign did not want the president to drop out of the race. This made perfect sense given that 1) Donald Trump was ahead in the polls and 2) their main line of attack—that Biden was too old and not physically up to the task—was clearly working. Unfortunately for Trump, Biden was replaced—and so the ex-president is majorly flailing in the face of his new competition. Politico reports that Republicans are panicking over Trump’s showing against Kamala Harris, which has so far involved calling the vice president “dumb,” claiming she suddenly “became a Black person,” and spelling her name “Kamabla.” None of this behavior appears to be helping his chances of getting reelected, and according to party insiders, it’s stemming from the fact that he’s absolutely freaked out about going toe-to-toe with someone who he can’t just claim has dementia. “This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and onetime Trump administration official, told Politico. “This is a guy who cut through the Republican primary like a knife through butter. This is a guy who pummeled a semiconscious president in a debate and literally out of a race. And now this is a guy who cannot come to grips with a competitive presidential race that would require discipline and effective messaging. And we’re seeing a candidate and a campaign absolutely melt down.” As a reminder, last week Trump appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists and told members that the VP, who attended a historically Black college, was only Indian until a few years ago. He presumably thought this would help him with Black voters, but it only demonstrated what many people have long known: that he’s not very bright and doesn’t know how race works. All of this is leaving Republicans hoping that the ex-president will realize the error of his ways and get his **** together. And considering that would effectively require him to receive a personality transplant overnight, not everyone is convinced it’s possible. “I think we are long past the time where we thought he could maybe rein in his worst angels, and he’s going to keep doing this and no amount of polling data or advice from people close to him will change him,” Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, told Politico. “He’s a 78-year-old guy stuck in his ways. And this has been his way for decades.”
Like how trump seems to get folks to like him on how simple his messages are. Man has a voc of a elementary student but folks kinda relate to it. Walz just gives off a likable dad/grandpa vibe. Also helps he's a vet, coach, teacher and down to earth. Man is also cracking dad jokes. Jd vance gives douche frat boy vibe. Like u can disagree with his political stances but Walz clears jd vance easily
Donald Trump spent Monday morning labeling the turmoil in the global financial markets the “Kamala Crash,” giving Republicans hope that he might turn his focus to an economic message. It didn’t last. By midday, the former president was already back to re-litigating his controversial appearance in Chicago last week, where he questioned Kamala Harris’ Black identity and suggested a major network journalist should be fired — “I didn’t know who she was, she was nasty,” he told a livestreamer. And if Trump had an opening to hit Harris on the economy, it was unclear even to leaders of his own party if he could sustain it. Republicans on Monday reeled from Trump’s undisciplined approach to the opening stages of his new general election matchup with Harris — following a weekend that saw him praise Russian leader Vladimir Putin while smearing Harris as “low IQ,” and “dumb” and attacking a popular swing-state GOP governor whose turnout operation he may need in November. Republicans who saw their party lose the White House and both chambers of Congress during Trump’s presidency have worried before about Trump’s lack of discipline. But Trump’s venting now comes at a critical point in the election, with Harris surpassing him in fundraising and gaining ground in some battleground state polls. “Democrats are racing to remake Kamala Harris from real life Selina Meyer into the female Obama — and Donald Trump’s lack of discipline is letting them,” said a national Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Every day Trump swipes at shiny objects — attacking the popular governor of a swing state, questioning the race of his opponent, or battling cat lady comments by his VP — is a day he is letting Harris define herself on her own terms.” Trump on Saturday uncorked on Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, calling him “a bad guy.” Reacting to that rally message, former Georgia Republican Party leader John Watson said: “Attacking Brian Kemp and his family is a galactic, unforced error.” “Among battleground voters, we win if we have the discipline to contrast on policy and we lose if voters decide on likability. Really, really simple,” he added. A Trump campaign official, granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said the former president’s Monday effort to yoke Harris and the Biden administration to market instability and unrest in the Middle East did not amount to a shift in tactics, but was a complement to his other suite of attacks. Asked if Trump should focus entirely on going after Harris’ policy vulnerabilities, rather than going after her personal traits or Republicans like Kemp, the official said that Trump can do it all. “The president is good at pushing multiple messages at the same time,” the official said, noting that Trump and his team were also criticized early on for mocking President Joe Biden’s physical and cognitive condition — and were urged by some to stick to bashing his policy. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time on this campaign.” Similarly, Trump’s Republican allies sought to play down his feud with Kemp. Trump going off book and attacking fellow Republicans — and the resulting intra-party heartburn — is hardly new for GOP lawmakers. The fact that they’re mostly staying quiet is in line with many Republicans’ long-standing practice of grumbling privately while downplaying concerns in public. Still, the agitation within the party this time appeared to cut deeper than before, dashing some Republicans’ hopes that the ex-president was exercising more discipline after his 2020 loss. And Kemp wasn’t the only Trump-endorsing Republican governor that the former president went after in recent days. On Friday, Trump fired off multiple Truth Social posts excoriating Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, the chair of the Republican Governors Association, for being a “RINO.” Lee’s sin, according to Trump, was that he had months ago endorsed an incumbent GOP state senator, while Trump had more recently endorsed the challenger. Trump’s posts left Lee’s aides “baffled,” and appeared to come “out of nowhere,” according to a person with knowledge of their reaction who was granted anonymity to speak freely. Lee, who initially stayed neutral in the Republican presidential primary, citing his role as RGA chair, quickly endorsed Trump after his Super Tuesday victories in Tennessee and elsewhere, and praised Trump onstage at the GOP convention just last month. “Lee is going to vote for him, Tennessee is going to vote for him, whatever,” said a Republican strategist in Tennessee. “It’s just indicative of a total lack of focus on the point.”
On Monday, even as he tried to shift the conversation back to the economy, Trump waded back into familiar territory, telling the livestreamer Adin Ross that ABC’s Rachel Scott, who participated in the NABJ panel, should be fired. “It was like a booby trap,” Trump said of Scott’s question at the NABJ conference. During the 90-minute live stream, Trump also suggested Venezuela will soon move “all of their criminals into the US,” said Kanye West is “a really nice guy, but he can get himself into trouble,” compared Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to Eva Perón and listened to Elvis in a Tesla Cyber Truck adorned with a picture of the former president.
The Trump 24 strategy is an all-in campaign on a certain type of voter. There's even a shift away from focusing on the Evangelical, and the Rural White Poor voter. It's almost all focused on the Demographic of white men who are online way too much, into crypto, etc. Elon Musk is a perfect example of who they are pursuing, and people who listen to podcasters like Ben Shapiro & the dude with the beanie. JD Vance is very popular with that crowd. That's a crowd Trump seems to think there are more voters in he can expand his base into, and he doesn't think he'll lose one vote from Evangelicals, and poor white rural voters. RFK Jr. being diminished is a good thing for Trump because this base he's trying to tap into are very much RFK Jr. type of voters. ... The Democrats seem to be trying to cast a wider net instead of microtargeting one demographic. It's like betting on more people watching Ted Lasso vs a more genre specific tv show like high fantasy. Sometimes it works out (see Game of Thrones). Sometimes it doesn't (see ABC's Once Upon a Time).
I see what I see, and without a doubt she is drawing more than Trump at her events as of now. Lots of folks getting motivated to get off the sidelines and jump in the voting game. Looks bad for Trump. Just being real about the situation.
Walz is like Santa Claus or everybody’s favorite uncle JD Vance is the guy women don’t leave their drink unattended around
It does have a history of working. That is certainly true. And the dishonest attacks on John Kerry's military record is a perfect example. My thought was that the world also saw the correction of those attacks and were now wise to those particular dishonest attacks, and not only that most folks are upset about them and they would backfire if they were used again. I realize that there is a small percentage of folks that didn't catch the correction to the dishonesty campaign, but I don't feel those voters were ever going to vote for Harris to begin with. The voters who don't like Trump, but aren't happy with where Biden has taken the nation seem like the main group still in play. These dishonest attacks seem like they would turn off those voters.
Feel like with technology for most folks it will be easy to see thorough the misinformation especially the younger generation. Like it takes a sec to look up Tim Walz military career
Yeah that's the big question when it comes to allocation of resources and time. I totally believe that anyone looking for excuses to vote for Trump was going to make up an excuse one way or another because.... they want to vote for Trump. They just want to feel like they are a good person in their mind so they need to find something to convince themselves. I know many many people like this in my friend circle, and certainly with my family. The smarter allocation of time, and resources should be focused on turning out your voters. That's a smarter play for sure. However traditionally we have seen that there actually is a small percentage of voters in swing states who.... for whatever reason.... have voted for Obama, then Trump, then Biden, and are actually considering voting for Trump again because of X,Y,Z reasons. I don't understand these voters, and they are an anomaly to me, but... the data shows they do exist, and they do often decide elections. That's why I think for damage control on swing voter campaigning, and turning them around to vote for you, that's work you'd ideally want to do as local as possible. Getting on the ground as much as possible... which is probably the biggest downside in the Harris/Walz campaign starting so late. The best strategy to win might actually be juicing the base, and really trying to turn out Gen Z.
