The Patriot Post® · Trump Regains His Focus
The 2024 presidential race has been a wild ride. From an attempted assassination of Donald Trump to a shakeup in the Democrat ticket, Americans are left wondering what might happen next.
Despite all the chaos and surprises, there’s one certainty that’s looming over the Trump campaign: He’s not winning “bigly” over Kamala Harris. In fact, some polls suggest he’s losing by a couple of points.
Yes, losing to Kamala Harris.
The one who doesn’t have a record to run on. The one who was a laughingstock even in Democrat circles a few weeks ago. She’s a presidential candidate who refuses to sit down for an interview or give a press conference. Then again, if you can beat your opponent by not saying a word, it’s a strategy worth keeping.
Trump has the opposite problem.
He talks all the time — in rallies that go on for hours, in interviews, in press conferences, and on Truth Social. Sure, that’s Trump. He likes to talk, and he enjoys being the center of attention. But voters are being swept up in a whirlwind of bold statements and accusations instead of a clear campaign message.
As Gerard Baker writes in The Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Trump does deserve credit, as some have said, for showing up to meet the press, unlike his opponent — and in his case, facing brickbats from an almost universally hostile crowd, unlike the softballs that will doubtless be lofted Ms. Harris’s way when she eventually deigns to grant them an audience. But, with apologies to Woody Allen, it isn’t true that 90% of being presidential is just showing up.”
When he shows up, for some reason, he keeps boasting about crowd sizes and stolen elections. It’s red meat for Trump voters, but not for those who might be on the fence about who they’re voting for in November.
The Hill reports, “Republicans are divided on how to win the 2024 election. While former President Trump is focused on crowd sizes and allies are bashing Vice President Harris for not sitting down for media interviews, some Republicans, like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley assessed that her party’s leaders need to ‘quit whining’ and focus on policy instead.”
Although Haley isn’t a fan favorite of the MAGA crowd, she’s absolutely right.
Other than his “no tax on tips” pledge, there’s nothing for voters to wrap their minds around. Trump has no specific ideas for resurrecting an economy that’s in shambles and no explanation for how to deal with millions of illegal aliens in the country. He talks about widespread crime but doesn’t have a policy to address it.
According to The New York Times, “The people around Mr. Trump see a candidate knocked off his bearings, nothing like the man who reclined serenely on July 15 as he watched as thousands of delegates cheered him on the first night of the Republican National Convention. Then, Mr. Trump, his ear bandaged, was a living martyr after the assassination attempt two days before. Inside the Milwaukee arena, the Democrats had already been defeated; the only thing left to wonder about was the margin of Mr. Trump’s victory.”
The good news for Trump is there’s still time to turn this around, but he needs to elevate his rhetoric and stick to the issues. Instead of focusing only on what Harris and Biden have done wrong, he should explain his policies while giving the American people a positive, hopeful vision for what the country can be by mirroring Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill.”
More good news: Trump seems to be getting the message.
At a rally in North Carolina this week and a press conference in New Jersey, Trump clearly and specifically outlined his positions on a range of important issues. He was focused and disciplined, a clear shift in strategy. And he just rehired his 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.
It’s coming just in time. Despite the media’s fawning media coverage of Harris, Trump remains within the margin of error in most polls. And in others, including Rasmussen Reports and Fox News, Trump leads Harris in the national race.
“At the very least, the reports of the demise of Trump’s standing in the race are greatly exaggerated … so far,” reports Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey, adding, “He has time to retool the messaging to hit Harris more effectively, and she’ll have to expose herself at some point to the same kind of exposure that caused her favorables to crater in mid-2021.”
The unexpected insertion of Kamala Harris into the presidential race was enough to shake things up. But after a rough start, it looks like Trump and his campaign staff are back on track. That’s good for Trump and even better for those who want to prevent the radical leftist ticket of Harris-Walz from running — and ruining — the country.