Trump really worried me recently when he started saying that the current presidential election was “rigged” against him, and if he loses, that’s why. My worry is NOT that I think the election might actually be rigged against Trump – of course voter fraud happens, and I have no doubt that Democrats benefit more than Republicans when, for example, illegal aliens vote, or dead people still vote in places like Chicago, or the IRS harasses conservative groups while leaving progressive (liberal) groups alone. But actually rigging the election against Trump and for Hillary; that doesn’t worry me.
What DOES worry me is that Trump appears to be looking for someone, or something, to blame if he doesn’t win. And let’s face it, the latest polls haven’t been kind to him. They show Trump losing to Hillary by anywhere from 5%-15%. I’d much rather see Trump and his campaign focus their time and effort on beating Hillary, than on trying to pedal a “woe is me, the election is fixed” story. And there are so many more productive things to be talking about.
Like $400 million in euros and francs and dollars that the Obama Administration loaded onto an unmarked cargo plane, and sent to Iran. Now since of course the Obama Administration would NEVER pay ransom in exchange for kidnapped Americans, we’re supposed to buy their story that the exchange of the money and the release of the hostages at the exact same time, is a mere “coincidence.” Well I don’t buy it.
There’s no question that this money was indeed ransom, just as there’s no question that some of it, probably a lot, will go to support terrorism (groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.) There’s also no question that this deal-with-the-devil will put more American lives at risk, because bad actors around the globe will know that the price for a kidnapped American, has just gone up. This is truly disgraceful, and dangerous, and that’s what Trump should be talking about. And of course Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, supported Obama’s deal with Iran, which makes Iran stronger, more likely to ultimately obtain nuclear weapons, and endangers the United States and our allies around the globe.
Trump should also talk about how Hillary is now lying about lying. She had the audacity to claim that FBI Director Comey said that she was telling the truth about her sending classified emails. In fact, Comey said exactly the opposite of what Hillary said she said. She’s lying to the American people AGAIN. She even claimed that she somehow “short circuited”, whatever that means.
And finally, Trump should focus on the difference between himself and Hillary on the economy and taxes. Trump gave a major policy speech earlier this week on these topics, confirming that he intends to spur economic growth by lowering income taxes and simplifying the tax code. Hillary is expected to give a speech this week in which she will make the case for more government spending (she’ll call it infrastructure, or investments), and higher taxes to fund that additional spending. Trump himself, and his surrogates, should stay focused on these issues, and not get sidetracked or drawn into any other dead ends.
Okay, a few more points I’d like to make. Hillary’s campaign, and other liberal groups allied with her, are spending millions of dollars undermining Donald Trump with withering attack ads on TV in key battleground states. It’s the same thing the Democrats did to weaken Mitt Romney last time. And it’s working. It’s especially evident if you’re watching the Olympics. And the response on Trump’s side? Not much. He’s got to get up on the air with paid commercials soon, or he’s going to have lost the race before it really even gets started.
I think Trump thought he could do in the general election, what he did in the primaries. And that’s spend little or nothing on paid advertising, and make up for it by being so accessible to the press. The problem is, as he’s finding out, the press are no longer (if they ever were) his friends. Take his interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC about ten days ago. I saw most of the interview, and Trump did a pretty good job answering some pretty tough questions, except for one. Trump’s answer about his “sacrifices” compared to the Khans’, who lost their son in Iraq, obviously left a lot to be desired. And of course that one answer was the only one that got any attention as the press, like a wolf pack, savaged Trump for days on his response. The bottom line is, Donald, if you want to see something nice said about yourself on TV, you better pay for it. Get your TV ads up on the air.
What’s Hillary’s strategy? Run out the clock. She’s like a basketball team that’s ahead, and just does the bare minimum to hold onto the ball, and not make any mistakes. Unlike Donald Trump, she hasn’t had a true news conference – for eight months. Because she was starting to feel some pressure for avoiding the press, she held a fake press conference recently. I say fake because rather than make herself available to all press outlets from MSNBC on the left to FOX News on the right, the only press allowed at her “press conference” were the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Unfortunately, she mostly got away with holding nothing but a scam press conference, because most of the reporting in the mainstream press about the event merely referred to the fact that she’d finally held – a press conference. What a crock.
Okay, one final bit of free advice, Donald. I hope and pray that you are taking some time, each day, to prepare, and I mean really prepare, for the upcoming debates. It will probably be your greatest opportunity to show that you are truly qualified and prepared to be our next president. And of course that is your opposition’s principal attack on you. So show them you are ready. I can assure you that Hillary will be prepared for the debate. I’ve had the opportunity to grill her, many times, when she as Secretary of State testified before the Foreign Affairs Committee. Much as I disagree with her policies (and her dishonesty) I have to acknowledge that she comes prepared. Donald, you need to be prepared as well.
So can Trump still win this thing? Yes. But we need to keep unforced errors to a minimum. We need to stay focused on those issues that are important to the American people. (And we need to prepare, a lot, for those debates, Donald.)