Posted on 06/19/2016 10:42:03 AM PDT by Pinkbell
Donald Trump has taken an unlikely path to winning the GOP nomination for president. And now he's taking an unusual approach to campaigning for the general election that could cost him dearly.
The billionaire businessman effectively clinched his party's nomination a full month before Democrat Hillary Clinton did the same. But Trump spent much of the month of May campaigning in states that won't help him win the 270 votes he needs in November.
Yes, the California primary and contests in other Western states still loomed. But he was unopposed in those GOP contests, and many Republicans wished he had taken the head start to pivot to the general election — and start focusing on critical swing states. Instead, Trump seemed obsessed with a notion that he could run up the score and expand the map — putting into play states that haven't gone for Republicans in almost three decades.
"The Trump campaign starts the general election at an organizational disadvantage," said Ryan Williams, who was a spokesman for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. "This is a candidate who won by the sheer strength of his personality and bluster instead of through a well-organized campaign effort."
Bucking the things that have worked for presidential campaigns
NBC News detailed in a news story last week just how skeletal Trump's campaign apparatus really is — absent many positions usually seen as critical, essentially one media contact and with no rapid-response team.
He fired Rick Wiley as national political director, a seasoned GOP operative who was a key liaison to the Republican National Committee, reportedly after clashes with Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski. And he continues to maintain an aversion to data and analytics — the backbone of any modern campaign, especially one for the highest office in the land.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
This article brings up concerns that I have. While Trump was able to win the primaries with a smaller staff, it's a different ballgame in the general. Hillary has a staff of over 800 people. Trump's staff is probably about an eighth of that. I'm not saying he needs 800 people, but he needs more staff to go up against the Clinton party machine.
Take this from NBC report:
Aides appeared unprepared for the Trump University story last week, despite knowing in advance that unsealed court documents would reveal explosive allegations of fraud. Beyond a short video of former students praising the program that was posted online, the campaign offered scant pushback.
Trump rally in California a scene of chaos, confrontation Donald Trump supporters were mobbed and assaulted by protesters on Thursday night after the candidate's campaign rally in California. The absence of a response to the Trump U story left the candidate to fill the vacuum with a torrent of demagoguery against the federal judge overseeing the case, Gonzalo Curiel, who Trump said was biased by his “Mexican heritage” despite his Indiana birthplace.
Of course I disagree with the thing on the judge being racist, but as I have said on here, it was articulated poorly, and I think more time should have been spent on showing the positive responses to Trump U.
And:
The conflict came to a head in California last week, where Manafort had lined up a raft of endorsements from local supporters ahead of Trump’s tour of the state – but no press releases went out announcing the news. Lewandowski and Hicks, the source said, vetoed draft after draft.
Delegate Jim Lacy boasted to NBC News in May that the campaign would soon host a press conference to unveil a coalition of female businesswomen endorsing Trump. The press conference never came. Instead, Trump referenced the group briefly in a speech in Anaheim, California, describing them only as “women that love Trump” who had met him earlier. The campaign sent out no further details, and the conservative site Breitbart, a hub for Trump backers, appears to be the only outlet that covered the new “Women in Business for Trump” coalition.
Why wasn't this info released?
In reference to Hillary's policy speech:
In a normal campaign, Williams said, Trump’s staff would have addressed this complaint long before their candidate was left to gripe on social media.
“There’s usually an entire department within the campaign that develops and distributes talking points on your foreign policy, not just to your staff and your official campaign, but to unaffiliated Republican talking heads to make sure everyone knows what your policy is,” Williams said.
Plus:
This, too, is something a candidate’s staff is supposed to handle. Presidential campaigns typically have a war room that tracks opponent’s statements in real time and flags inaccuracies to push back on, attacks to counter or stumbles to exploit.
It would help Trump to have this because he is going against the Clinton machine, and they can help him spin any statements that the media plays as controversial. It also says he doesn't have a lot of professional surrogates, mainly just supporters.
The NBC article also talks about how Trump should have been focusing on Hillary's email scandal when the IG report came out but was instead:
Trump mentioned the report only briefly in passing in a speech the day of the report’s release, instead making headlines with renewed attacks on Romney, whom he called a “choker,” and defeated GOP primary rival Jeb Bush. The next morning, Trump continued a feud with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, calling her “Pocahontas” in a tweet and providing another story to distract from the email issue.
Also it say he should have used the protests in San Jose to his advantage. I recall being disappointed that Trump didn't really get out there. He instead made one tweet and tweeted about Scotland. They said he should have used it to attack Hillary and Bernie and have them come out and repudiate it. He really could have played it up.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-does-not-have-campaign
I think he should be focusing on swing states and should have been this past month where now he is trailing in the polls.
The NPR article addresses that he should have spent the month really beefing up his operation in swing states where he is losing in the polls. He is also saying he wants to try to win some blue states like Cali and NY when he should be focusing on swing states where he is trailing but can make up ground.
I have said that I think two keys for Trump to get his message out is through debates and ads. It bypasses the media and goes right to the voter (w/ exception of biased debate moderator). Hillary has just sent out a 41 million dollar ad blitz, and Trump's campaign doesn't really have any and are still trying to raise money. Trump could fund himself, but he said he would have to sell a building, and I can see why he wouldn't want to do that and have no problem with him not funding himself. I just wish there was more fundraising. I know he raised around 13 million during this trip for the party, and he'll receive some. However, that does pale in comparison to all the money rolling into the Clinton coffers. How about he do something like Ron Paul and Bernie? Do big money bombs on small donations.
I know Trump ran an unconventional campaign in the primaries, and that should continue to an extent, but it doesn't hurt to beef up operations and apply some of these things. He counted on media attention in the primaries. Now that same media attention is there, but it is almost all negative. The media is responsible for his drop in polls. Not to mention he is running against his own party essentially.
The fact is the polling shows him losing. Even the most favorable poll has him down by 2 points. There is some tight polling in usual Republican states. I'm not posting this to attack him. I'm posting this because I am concerned and see areas where I question how he is handling things. Some of the stuff in these articles, if applied, could help Trump. I know some of you will say not to worry about the polls, but I heard that here in 2008. I heard that in 2012. The polls turned out to be right. It's still early, and there is plenty of time to make changes.
Awwwww. It’s so cute how NPR cares so much about Trump.
“wasting time campaigning is states he has no chance in”
Code for HOW DARE YOU make us fight for states that are supposed to be democrat like Cali, New York, etc.
Also, the only bad thing about his campaign last month was that he had to spend too much time defending himself from his own party. Bastards.
General election campaigneering is where the consultants get their paychecks and the networks get their ad revenue. With Trump, that ain’t happening, for good or for worse.
If it were really true National Peoples Radio would STFU about it.
I always turn to NPR to get my mind right.../sarc
Well spoken. I hope Trump gets his campaign in order.
Trump is spending his own money. When you spend your own money, you tend to not spend on huge machines and ad blitz. When you’re spending somebody else’s money, you got nuts.
I’m just saying he needs to shore up the swing states first where he is losing like in Ohio or Michigan. The polling is tight enough where he can gain ground. He wins these swing states, game over. Focusing on California where you are many points behind when you need swing states seems to be a waste of resources.
I agree with many of your thoughts. I suspect he resists growing the team, not wanting to deal with the typical rnc hacks and saboteurs.
Agree. Had to defend himself against a rogue’s gallery of reprobate RINOs
So 800 left-wing head cases are working together? I wonder what the outcome will be.
Thanks. I am only posting this because I think, liberal sources or not, Trump corrects based on some of the info in these articles, he could bump his poll numbers. The people that wrote the NBC (and I’m sure NPR) report are liberal, yes, but they actually pointed out some areas where he could improve.
California did nothing but hurt his campaign with protesters capturing the media attention in a negative way.
I think Trump tossed away some important moments in the past month by getting into pissing matches about his personal enterprises....Donald,don’t respond or get sucked into anything related to you personal crap or you will loose!!
Let your legals at corporate handle it.
Its not about your enterprises its about us the USA
Trump, as a business man, asks the question - is that the right/effective/cost-effective process? And when he implements the new-media approach, these consultants squeal like stuck pigs. What a great election!
You have no concerns right now when we are down in all national polling? You were probably one of the people who emulated Baghdad Bob with the 2012 poll numbers.
Instead of trying to be cute and clever, why don’t you tell me what your issues with the articles are. What points do you specifically disagree with?
The biggest hit to his poll numbers in the last month was due to the Mexican judge controversy. In addition to the organizational improvements he needs to get back to attacking Clinton as was planned before the terrorist attacks. Playing up her scandals and horrible judgment, criminal behavior etc will go a long ways towards blunting any advantage of this summer ad blitz.
Exactly!
Like we’re supposed to believe that National Pinko Radio wants to give Trump advice about how to win the election?
These liberals insult our intelligence.
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