We've reached the inevitable stage of the campaign in which even Trump-bullish political prognosticators are effectively declaring 'lights out' on his candidacy. Back-to-back national polls show Donald Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits -- and although it appears as though Trump's level of support is relatively stable among his base, the essential path to expanding his appeal has disastrously narrowed. His RealClearPolitics average has slid back below 40 percent on the four-way ballot, with even typically-friendly Rasmussen also detecting a national downswing. The GOP has lost his average leads in Florida, North Carolina and -- gulp -- Ohio, and may have allowed Hillary Clinton to sneak up on him in Arizona. This October fade has been self-inflicted. Trump failed to prepare for the first presidential debate, which shattered ratings records. He face-planted badly under the brightest lights, losing in every scientific poll of viewers. Then, with Wikileaks poised to drop damaging revelations about Hillary Clinton, the 'p***y grab' tape emerged, and Trump's abhorrent words plunged the campaign into crisis mode. (Funny how Trump's seemingly preternatural ability to manipulate and dominate media narratives suddenly expired after the primaries, isn't it?) Dozens of GOP elected officials jumped ship, as Trump's own wife and running mate issued condemnations. Why, it's almost as if there's a reason why hacked Clinton campaign emails show her team eager to elevate this self-destructive alleged billionaire during the Republican primary. They wanted desperately to run against him. Indeed, here's one confidante writing that perhaps the only person Mrs. Clinton could defeat in the general was her longtime buddy and donor, the unprepared and widely-detested Donald J. Trump:
From new Wikileaks dump: Team Hillary was terrified GOP would nominate anyone other than Trump. GOP came through in the end. pic.twitter.com/4L4Sl0ejEb
— Andrew Stiles (@AndrewStilesUSA) October 10, 2016
Much to Hillary's eternal delight, a plurality of Republican voters (the weakest in modern primary history) had her back, handing her the opponent she needed to ensure her presidency. It couldn't have worked out much better for her, and now her party is smelling blood. Republicans fear that a wicked blend of Trump's toxicity to non-Trump voters, swelling Republican disunity, and Trump's penchant for furious retribution and blame-shift could lead to the loss or one or both of Congress' legislative chambers. Holding the Senate was always going to be a tough task, although it has looked quite plausible in recent weeks. If GOP internal numbers continue to plunge, and if Trump's margin of defeat is large, the chances of retaining the upper chamber majority dwindle considerably. As for the House majority, which has long been considered safe, some in the party are starting to see warning signs. And following a contentious conference call among House Republican conference members yesterday -- in which Speaker Paul Ryan sensibly instructed members to hug or reject Trump as the situations in individual districts require -- Trump is taking Ryan's decision to focus entirely on Congressional races as an excuse to divide the party even further. Man-children gonna tantrum:
Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Members of his team are doing the same, despite the RNC's ostentatious display of unwavering loyalty last night. Ryan's terse reply, for what it's worth: Maybe we should fight the other party, Donald. Gone are the days when Team Trump said down-ballot candidates were welcome to distance themselves from the top of the ticket in the interests of winning. Remember, Trump is merely renting out the Republican Party in pursuit of his ambitions. He isn't a Republican, which his why attacking Republicans comes so easily to him. It's his comfort zone, perfected during the primary season glory days, back when the media amplified his every utterance. He's stated that he isn't terribly interested in which party controls the Senate next year, and a member of his "gloating" inner circle told the Washington Post that they "don't care" about the Trump-caused schisms and fear roiling the party. His attitude appears to be that if he's going to lose this thing -- which he must know is what's happening, despite repeating the hilarious "every poll" delusion above -- he's going to burn the place down with him. If he can't win, nobody should be allowed to win.
By tossing gas on this conflagration and once again blasting "fellow" Republicans instead of attacking Democrats, today's Trump is doing everything he can to ensure that a Clinton/Schumer/Pelosi team (he's helped or donated to all three) will have an opportunity to impose a far-left agenda via ramrod politics. And thus he's vindicating conservative critics' case against him: He's an unelectable, unstable, capricious, petty fraud whose nomination sealed the party's fate. A vote for Trump in the Republican primary was a vote for Hillary's extremely likely victory. Rather than owning up to his own historic choke-job against one of the weakest and most reviled major party nominees of all time, Trump is Trumping: Lashing out at those who are insufficiently obsequious in service to his insecure and artificially-inflated ego. I'll leave you with scathing Trump critic George F. Will arguing that the GOP deserves to stick with the head case they've elevated, in accordance with Hillary Clinton's wishes -- likening Trump to chemotherapy. Brutal:
Damn, George Will brings the???? pic.twitter.com/8NhP6vvns2
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 11, 2016
UPDATE - Some of Trump's most loyal fans are starting to express frustration with his approach, as even Chris Christie says Trump's "locker room banter" apology didn't go far enough. But never fear, America. If more ugly intel comes out on Trump, he's prepared to
Here's Ben Carson explaining that "the problem" is that reporters are unaware that all men talk about women like Donald Trump does. pic.twitter.com/Jb6SYXWADq
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 11, 2016
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