Trump sex tape comments frustrate GOP supporters

Donald Trump’s middle-of-the-night tweets about a beauty queen sex tape are frustrating Republican supporters, who worry once again that their candidate’s lack of discipline will hamper his campaign.

They say Trump needs to keep his focus on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, prepare for their second debate, on Oct. 9 in St. Louis, and quit taking the bait from Democrats.

“It’s unlikely the Miss Universe flap is hurting Trump with current supporters, but it’s hard to see how it helps grow our vote,” said one GOP lawmaker who supports Trump.

“Maybe it's quaint conventional wisdom. But it seems he would help himself to talk about the real world problems that every day voters face,” the lawmaker said.

Trump has not been able to let go his feud with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

In a series of tweets beginning at 3:19 a.m. on Friday and ending at 5:30 a.m., the New York billionaire sought to discredit Machado by drawing attention to tawdry details about her past, including allegations — debunked by fact-checkers — that she has filmed a “sex tape.”

Those allegations reignited Democratic attacks against Trump over his treatment of Machado just as the issue seemed ready to peter out.

Clinton already had been doing everything she could to keep the Machado story going, believing Trump’s fat-shaming of the Venezuelan would help her with both women and Hispanic voters.

She responded to Trump’s tweet-storm with her own series of tweets, calling Trump “unhinged.”

“What kind of man stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?,” Clinton tweeted.

“When something gets under Donald's thin skin, he lashes out and can't let go,” she said. “This is dangerous for a president. To Donald, women like Alicia are only as valuable as his personal opinion about their looks.”

Still don’t understand after all the campaigns of the past,the dead bodies,the stories of corruption,the tactics of the Clintons,that anybody running against them could be surprised at their gutter tactics,and still fall into their traps.
I understand Trump is not a politician,but he is supposed to be smart,please demonstrate it to me,I am voting for you,but with about a month to go Hillary is still ahead.
I have watched just about all your rallies across the country on Rbsn.tv,the crowd in Michigan was massive,all the crowds have been fantastic,I waited six hours in Fairfield ct. To see you,but yesterday in Michigan you just threw out there the Name of Mark Rich and said remember that story? I don’t think most of those people know who Mark Rich was or his story and you just went on without telling the story,if your going to bring his name up explain it or don’t bring his name up,you were reading off the teleprompter put it on there,that is the one thing you do constantly,fail to give specific details,it’s fantastic,it’s great,it’s real bad folks,what is,how,why,.
Case in point polls consistently show Hillary is ahead on the issue of immigration,how can that be when you mention the WALL all the time? Your message about Hillarys policy of open borders as well as letting refugees is not getting out or you are not explaining it very well.
I hope you do better in the next month,it’s only the country that is at stake

“I believe he failed signally to do so in the last debate, I believe that Hillary prevailed by looking good on the issues and Trump looked at best unappealing and perhaps even unpresidential.”

Based on the reaction of my circle of female friends and associates, including my spouse, you are correct. Most despise Hillary and while they don’t like many of Trump’s positions, they up to now have been willing to overlook his negatives in order to keep Hillary out of the oval office.

The debate changed things. All of them say Trump came across as a self-centered egomaniac. Hillary looked disciplined, mature, confident, and in control. Trump appeared to be shooting from the hip and unable to speak coherently. Most said they turned off the debate after it was clear Hillary was in command and Trump was not acting presidential.

The white female vote will decide this election, just as it has the last few elections. If enough educated white women decide Trump is unfit for the job they may not vote for Hillary but they will vote 3rd party or stay at home. A few hundred thousand vote swing in a handful of states will decide the election. Trump needs to demonstrate to this critical group he is fit for office.

Of interest, these informed female voters saw the collusion between Lester Holt and Hillary. They understand the debates are rigged and the press is actively working to defeat Trump. However, what they are looking at is how Trump, as an aspiring leader, behaves when the cards are stacked against him. They want to take the measure of the man’s behavior when he is working through a difficult situation. Instead of a cool, confident problem solver they saw a hot head reacting emotionally. This is not the image Trump should be conveying to win the undecided, particularly educated and females who use reason, not emotion, to pick a candidate.

Democrats understand the importance of the white female voter group. The entire “war on women” effort in the 2012 election was about changing female perceptions of Romney as a decent man. Bait is now being thrown at Trump by the Democrats and media. Instead of brushing it off and staying on message he is reverting to his street fighting instincts which do not make him look mature, thoughtful, self disciplined, and cool under fire. Hillary and Holt succeeded in provoking Trump so he came across as an emotional hothead who might act out irrationally if faced with a situation where a foreign leader got under his skin. Trump’s behavior in reacting to the current Miss Universe bimbo affair is only contributing to doubts about his ability to handle even trivial situations.

At this point in the campaign, most undecideds are thoughtful and informed people. It is Trump’s job to convince them to vote for him despite their reservations. If he can’t demonstrate mature leadership skills when under attack, the self proclaimed great dealmaker isn’t going to seal the deal. No matter what any of us think about the importance of the election to the country, no voter has an obligation to vote for Trump or any candidate.

This is my take on it which I am planning to share.

“HA HA HA!! This is really FUNNY!

“I’m seeing posts that women should not vote for Trump. Liberal women were fine with all Billy Clinton’s womanizing and assaults as President, and with Hillary’s shaming and harassing the women with her bimbo eruption squad and tactics.

“Trump is a choir boy compared to Billy Clinton! Liberal women gave Billy Clinton a wide pass for his bad behavior as President, and they want us to believe NOW that they are concerned about women? Sorry, liberal and Democrat and Clinton supporter women, it is too late, and you own it.”

” It is certainly not funny what the Clintons and their minions did to those women. That is a real War on Women.”

“Billy was excused for behavior while serving as President, but another guy is disqualified for something he is alleged to have done decades ago?”

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