Does Trump Have A Strategy?
Eric Levine, a former Treasury Department official, is a hotshot Republican Jewish Coalition board member, who supported Tim Scott and then Nikki Haley and said he wouldn’t vote for Trump because of the J-6 attempted coup— until he said he would. Levine told his fundraising network that in March that he had decided to embrace Trump (treason and all) albeit reluctantly and with reservations. “I remain concerned about Trump's relationship with the truth. I continue to cringe every time he tells the lie about a stolen election. And the thought that he did nothing while rioters ran through the Capitol chanting 'hang Mike Pence’ still haunts me.”
On Wednesday, Matthew Kassel reported that Levine was flipping out over Trump’s embrace of lunatics RFK Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, now members of Trump’s fantasy transition team. Levine called the two of them “‘fringe candidates with fringe policy positions’ who will alienate conservative voters. ‘It is hard to imagine a more self-destructive announcement,’ Eric Levine, a board member with the Republican Jewish Coalition, wrote in an email letter he sent to his network and shared with Jewish Insider. The subject line read: ‘Is Trump Trying to Lose?’”
In the letter, Levine dismissed Kennedy as “an anti-vax kook who sees conspiracies behind every tree and under every bed,” while assailing Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, for having endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2016 presidential election.“There is something terribly wrong with this picture,” Levine said.
Levine, a prominent GOP fundraiser based in New York, warned that Trump is now ceding ground to Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to court moderate Republicans. “These should be solid Trump voters,” he argued. “Harris’ lies are easily exposed if Trump remains focused on policy and records. Yet, they are up for grabs because Trump seems to be laser focused on narrowing his base rather than expanding it.”
“Rather than seeking and coveting the endorsement of fringe candidates with fringe policy positions that offend most Republicans and independents,” Levine said, “Trump would be better served by announcing he has added Nikki Haley to his transition team. It is her voters he should be focusing on.”
Levine, who previously backed Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Haley for president, had once insisted he would never again vote for Trump after the 2020 election.
…The letter on Wednesday suggests that Levine’s concerns have grown as Trump brings new figures from the political fringes into his coalition. “Trump only helps Harris in her orchestrated act of national deception when he embraces fringe candidates like RFK and Gabbard,” he wrote.
“As a former Haley voter and Reagan Republican, I say to you Mr. Trump, speak to me and my fellow Republicans,” Levine concluded in a direct appeal to the former president. “Reject the fringes. Fight for the middle. If you do not, you will forever be known from this day forward, as the ‘Former President.’”
Trump probably couldn’t care less about anti-MAGA Republicans like Levine. His campaign’s strategists— meaning Lewandowski and his cronies— have come to the conclusion that Trump has to win the debate coming up in 10 days. Kamala’s momentum— both nationally and in all the swings states— is breathtaking. Everyday Mar-a-Lago wakes up to Trump’s insane overnight Truth Social posts and to Kamala’s growing poll numbers.
Yesterday, Hugo Lowell reported that at Mar-a-Lago “the true picture that is emerging is that the Trump senior advisers’ grand plan, for now, is to pray that the former US president has a good night at the presidential debate next month. The game plan, in other words, has become one of hoping that Trump wins the debate so they can regain momentum— a stunning approach that shows the serious predicament for Trump and his campaign as he struggles to find ways to land effective attacks against the vice-president just months before the election. What has happened internally in the Trump campaign in recent weeks is the realization that nothing they do in the period up to the debate is likely to cut through in a significant way that blunts Harris’ gains that have her level in key swing state polls, according to people close to the matter. And because they don’t think the messaging will cut through, senior advisers are left hoping that Trump can energize voters with his performance on stage.”
The problem with that “strategy” is obvious: Trump is unlikely to energize anyone outside of his committed MAGA base. In fact, judging from past performances, he’s more likely to turn people off than turn swing voters on. His behavior in debates— aggressive, combative style, crude interruptions and fire hydrants of false claims— alienate mainstream voters. During the 2020 debates, for example, he interrupted Biden 71 times during the first debate alone, leading to widespread criticism and a negative impact on undecided voters who saw his behavior as more off-putting than persuasive. Post-debate polls showed that Biden gained ground.
It’s worth remembering that Señor T’s refusal to condemn white supremacy and his aggressive posture were slammed by the media and led to a decline in his support among suburban and swing voters. He may have solidified the white male neo-Nazi vote but he pushed swing voters further away. The signature stream of lies and his ugly, aggressive tactics are a liability rather than an asset, with a mainstream audience. But, Lewandowski's mantra is always “Let Trump be Trump.”
Anyone else remember the theory that when he ran in 2016 it wasn't to win but to get his name and mug out there so he could create a media empire that would orbit around him and only him?
Is it too much to wonder if he actually IS trying to lose, just so he can spend the rest of his life whining on his own media outlet? Or is he just unable to turn away anyone who worships him unconditionally? Or a little of both?