From where I’m sitting, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are playing this game beautifully right now. Hillary is staying above the fray, Looking almost pityingly at the camera when asked about Trumps dragging up the past, shaking her head and repeating over and over again that she is not going to jump into the mosh pit with Trump just because he cranks the volume on his verbal Godsmack.
Who needs to go into the gutter when you have your opponents words to use against him. I love the Super PAC commercial with people wearing Trump t-shirts, mouthing to the camera while Trumps own words come out of their mouths. Calling out Trump on his insensitive comments in that Trump U module saying how good a housing crash would be is pure gold. The funny thing is that Trumps defense of those statements is actually sound in one sense. He was a businessman, and buying real estate in a down market to sell it at a profit when the market recovers is no different than buying stock in a bear market and waiting for the bulls to raise it up. But guess what? People living in trailers and downscale apartments because they lost their homes to foreclosure so Trump could snarf them up really don’t want to hear that shit. Sense be damned, the optics suck for him.
Having powerful surrogates like Elizabeth Warren and the Democratic house leadership come out and hammer Trump over the same thing, over and over again is also effective. I think it’s also driving Trump crazy right now. Considering the fact that he’s right in a purely business sense, he can’t figure out why he can’t swat this particular gnat away from his face. It has to be frustrating the hell out of him that this is actually gaining traction.
The intensity must also be surprising him, along with the line of attack. He has not been hit this hard, on such a concerted front in this entire process. During the primaries, the criticisms and potshots were scatter gun and ineffective, they got one soundbite in the daily coverage, and gone by the next news cycle. This whole housing kerfluffle is now in the news cycle for the third straight day, he is hearing it over and over again. And the Democrats are going to keep hammering this until Trump comes up with a plausible answer, and Trump doesn’t do plausible well.
How does Trump respond? How else. Pure, unadulterated Trump, hey, dog gotta howl. Slander and insults. If “Crooked Hillary” is the worst he can do, he’s in trouble. His response to the State Departments IG report on the e-mail server has been pathetic. For the last two days he has referred to it in his speeches as “not good”, but he hasn’t even tried to take her over the falls about the “scandal”. No red meat and insinuation. Could it be that he is too lazy to do a little homework on mining this vein? This is recent, relevant stuff, and guaranteed red meat for the base. Not only that, but it hammers home the “Judgement issue” for the wider voter base. And he’s wasting it. Calling Warren “Pocahontas” is just brain dead. His base may love it, but the general electorate finds it childish and insulting.
His primary line of attack has been ridiculous. Monica Lewinsky, impeachment, Vince Foster? Really? And now he wants to dredge up Whitewater? This might be surefire red meat for the base, but to the rest of the general electorate it’s a deceased equine. And something very basic that Trump is missing here. Somewhere in the vicinity of 40%+ of the electorate for this election has absolutely no idea of what the hell he’s talking about, they weren’t even born when these things actually mattered! They couldn’t give a shit less about ancient history. They’re worried about jobs, education costs, higher wages, all things Trump isn’t interested in, except in vague sound bites.
But apparently the Trump campaign is into this line of attack for the long run. And there is an anecdotal indication that just like the Trump despised Romney campaign of 2012 they are deceiving themselves silly. Yesterday on MSNBC, Yesterday “With all due respect” had Barry Bennett, the senior advisor to the Trump campaign on. John Heilemann specifically asked him if the campaign was actually serious about dragging up Whitewater, and how much longer they would continue this line of attack. Bennett replied “For as long as it’s effective. We’ve got them back on their heels right now.” Heilemanns mouth literally dropped open. He immediately asked “Barry, where is your proof that the Clinton campaign is back on their heels?” Bennett responded with “Well, look at their non existent response, they’re back on their heels right now”. Irritated, Heilemann shook his head and bore in again, “That’s not an answer Barry. Where is your proof?” Bennett thought for a moment and then said, “When is the last time they won a news cycle since we started this?” John just shook his head and gave up. Apparently the Trump campaign isn’t even polling or doing focus groups outside of the Fox bubblesphere to see if this is working. And the longer they flog this dead horse, the better the Clinton camp likes it, it’s just not pertinent.
So, there’s my two cents worth. From where I’m sitting, it’s actually Trump who is back on his heels, and he’s highly pissed about it. He’s not used to being hit this hard and effectively for this long, and he sure as hell isn’t used to a couple of “women” like Clinton and Warren refusing to back down just because he insults them and calls them names. But what else does he have? Having a local reporter in your own press conference call you out for using derogatory language like “Pocahontas” should be a sure sign that you’re not on the right track.
And if the Clinton campaign is smart, the fun is just beginning! They haven’t even touched the vaunted Trump University, maybe they’re waiting for the run up to the trials. And after that, there’s always the ever popular “Trump Network”, an Herbalife styled vitamin and supplement Ponzi scheme he started in 2009 in the middle of the recession, and advertised it as a way to “opt out of the recession”.
Thanks as always for reading!
Friday, May 27, 2016 · 1:41:09 AM +00:00 · Murfster35
In this article I touched on something called the Trump Network”. If this is unfamiliar with you but you’re intrigued, check back in tomorrow morning, I just finished the diary chronicling it and it’s time set for like 6:00 a.m. PDT tomorrow...