What principles does Trump have to argue?
Trump would need to learn to argue ideas coherently on the key issues in the face of state-run media interview questions.
He's been at it almost 10 months and hasn't been able to do that yet.
You raise a key point. There is the possibility that he's capable of arguing ideas coherently in key situations (as shown in real estate or show-biz contracts), but has been trying to leave himself political wiggle room on the campaign trail.
The other possibility is that he's never really set up an "opinion infrastructure" in his brain, they would peg him as an incoherent old man, and he wouldn't have enough logical horsepower to convincingly fire back.
It's easy to forget that the general election landscape is completely different. It occurs after Democratic operatives have made joint tactical plans with "mainstream" media organizations, and then settle down to coordinate and execute as events unfold.
Trump would need to learn to argue ideas coherently on the key issues in the face of state-run media interview questions.
He's been at it almost 10 months and hasn't been able to do that yet.
For years, America has elected a congress full of people and a president who could argue "principles", what good has that gotten us? They've only betrayed those principles in the end.