If Republican Donald Trump loses the presidential election, which seems likely at this point, he has no one to blame but himself. Even his most ardent supporters and loyal advisers — who still sing his praises — have said he can’t stick to the issues that resonate with voters.
Trump only this week laid out a fairly solid plan for his first 100 days in office. While some of his ideas are still unpopular, he offered favorable points like imposing term limits on members of Congress, a hiring freeze on non-essential employees, a stronger military and for every new federal government regulation, he would repeal two.
Voters are concerned about the direction of the country, and much of that is based on their belief the military has been downgraded, national security is threatened and the United States is no longer respected around the world.
Frank Luntz, a respected Republican pollster and political consultant, said on “Face the Nation” Sunday that Trump’s campaign might have squandered the GOP’s chance for an easy win.
“I have never seen a campaign that has less discipline, less focus, less of an effective vision at a time when more Americans are demanding a change in the way government works,” Luntz said. “This should have been a slam dunk for the GOP.”
Luntz said Trump has become a spokesman for the workingman and forgotten workers in this country. However, he said the candidate spends his time pushing back against women accusing him of sexual misconduct, dredging up Bill Clinton’s sexual problems and fighting with the Republican Party.
Peggy Noonan in her weekend Wall Street Journal column began by saying, “Look, he’s a nut and you know he’s a nut. I go to battleground states and talk to anyone, everyone. They all know Donald Trump’s a nut. Some will vote for him anyway…”
Noonan added later, “Since I am more in accord with Mr. Trump’s stands than not, I am particularly sorry that as an individual human being he’s a nut.
“Which gives rise to a question, for me a poignant one.
“What if there had been a Sane Donald Trump?”
“Oh my God. Sane Trump would have won in a landslide,” she said.
Noonan said Newt Gingrich, a Trump friend and supporter, likes the candidate because Trump thinks big and is a transformational character. However, Noonan said even Gingrich admits Trump “reacts very intensely, almost uncontrollably” to “anything which attacks his own sense of integrity and his own sense of respectability.”
Gingrich told Noonan he found it “frankly pathetic” that Trump got mad because House Speaker Paul Ryan didn’t call to congratulate him after the second debate.
A number of political analysts have said Trump can’t help making the campaign about him and not about what he has to offer. He has wasted valuable time responding to personal attacks that people may have eventually forgotten had he not kept reminding them for days and weeks afterwards.
Noonan said, “Sane Donald Trump would have given an anxious country more ease, not more anxiety. He would have demonstrated that he can govern himself. He would have suggested through his actions, while still being entertaining, funny and outsize, that yes, he understands the stakes, and yes, since America is always claiming to be the leader of the world — We are No. 1! — a certain attendant gravity is required of one who’d be its leader.”
CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s third campaign manager, and asked her if she believes what she says when she defends Trump.
Conway replied, “I think it’s unfair to say I’m always dutifully defending him. I look at my job, Dana, as explaining positions on issues, why he’s running for president and why people should vote for him.”
Bash said Conway, when pressed, admitted Trump is at his best when he talks about the issues. However, Conway said Trump still has a good chance of winning.
“I think that people have realized it’s very unwise to bet against Donald Trump,” Conway said.
Molly Ball of The Atlantic magazine wrote about “Trump’s graying army.” She interviewed a number of them in Florida, citizens she said who “were old enough to remember a different America — an America that was great. A place of strength and confidence, where men were men and women were women, where people respected the flag and their elders and prayed to God. That was not the America they saw today.”
Ball said, “They are adrift in a world that no longer speaks a language they recognize — or they were, until Trump came along.”
I am a member of that older generation, and yes, there are things I miss in this great country. As a former American history teacher, I am disturbed that we no longer instill a sense of that proud history in today’s younger generation. I am troubled about the inability of many younger Americans to understand our political system because of a failure in the educational system.
Perhaps most of all, I am troubled when I hear sincere men of faith say Christianity could disappear in a generation if true believers fail to spread its redeeming message.
Despite those concerns, I have adapted to today’s world and find it both challenging and rewarding. And changes that some find disturbing, I have no problem understanding and accepting.
Unfortunately, like many Americans, I am definitely not happy about any of my choices for the presidency.
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