Donald Trump’s Tough Times Continue…

With The Donald, it seems each day brings a new barrage of attacks from those determined not to give him a fighting chance.

Donald Trump depends on his pronouncements to maintain his appeal, but the tactics being used by his enemies is to pounce on any pronouncement he makes and find something – anything in the statements to attack him with.

This strategy seems to be working as the poll numbers show Hillary Clinton expanding her lead  over him. Clearly, Hillary Clinton is no pushover, as her team has perfected the art of using Trump’s words against him to devastating effect.

Battle Weary Fighters

The thing is that while Trump had to fight very bloody battles with fellow Republican candidates like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz in the primaries, Hillary Clinton had it so easy, fighting a largely civilized battle against Bernie Sanders.

So, while Trump’s battle-weary veterans have come out bloody and tired, Hillary’s troops are still fresh. It looks a lot like how the Japanese defeated the Russians in the 1700s or 1800s (I’ve forgotten).

The Russian Navy were maneuvered via propaganda to sail round the world and were kept constantly on edge  by planted news that the Japanese Navy was sailing to meet them.

In the end, the Japanese who were well rested met the fatigued Russians and had great battle advantage over them.

Now back to Trump: to make matters worse for him, many in his party are still fighting him tooth and nail, refusing to accept him as their candidate and even declaring that they will vote for Clinton.

So Donald Trump is fighting on several fronts at once. He is fighting The Clinton Campaign, wich should be enough in a normal campaign. Trump is also fighting the liberal -and even conservative media- excepting maybe Matt Drudge and some others; while at the same time fighting heavyweights from his party. Woah!

So, this man has got his hands full.

Civil War In The GOP

One of the most important factors in politics as well as in the military is unity. And that is lacking so much in the Republican Party at the moment.

The Bush Camp which considered 2016 their year of return to the White House, is still smarting from Trump, whom they consider the upstart that came in and overturned everything. They have refused to endorse Trump.

But I must say Trump’s refusal to endorse  House Speaker Paul Ryan was a big big mistake. Ryan is one of the few heavyweights to have come out (even if reluctantly) to endorse Trump.

And in return, Trump treated him badly by initially refusing to endorse him in his reelection campaign which he just won. That was a failure in leadership from Trump and any advice that suggested such a move to him needs to be fired. It could be possible that such an adviser doesn’t have his best interests at heart.

Could It Be That The Political Class Has Recovered from Its Initial Trump Shock And Are Now Fully Ready To Take Him On Fire For Fire?

That question certainly needs to be asked, because it is beginning to seem that Trump’s enemies have shed their initial, low energy, timid response to Trump and are increasingly ready to take him on.

Remember how Elizabeth Warren gave him a very tough time some time back. Since then, many politicians on both sides of the aisle have boldly tried to outrump Trump.

At the same time, Trump has faced calls for him to tone down his language. As he looks at the dismal poll numbers Trump cannot decide what form to take with each passing day: whether the traditional presidential form or his normal populist mode.

This alone can even disenchant his supporters. Trump needs to pick one style and stick to it. That alone is clear.

President Duterte of the Philipines who has frequently been described as Asia’s Donald Trump had a similarly populist style during Philipines’ recent presidential elections, and it brought him victory.

Trump would prefer to stick to such a style, but it would mean him gambling between keeping his current base (he says it as it is) and reaching out to those who want to see a more traditional character become POTUS.

Melania Trump Being Used For Target Practice By Democrats And The Media

One seemingly attractive target of Tump’s opponents is his wife Melania. Its either that her speech reads like that of Michelle Obama, or tongues are wagging about her visa and passport, or nude pictures of her are being splashed on the pages of newspapers to weaken Trump’s hold among Christian Conservatives.

It is highly possible that as the campaign goes along, she will increasingly be targeted, not to defeat Trump, but to weaken his hold among those who are already gong ho about him.

The Trump campaign should assign a unit to prevent de-energization of his supporters via attacks against Melania that are aimed at exposing seeming contradictions between Trump’s stand and reality.

Hillary Clinton’s Emails Are Trump’s Biggest Ally

It is clear that verbal jabs that broke into the Jeb Bush would hardly make a dent with Hillary Clinton unless Trump really ups his ante in that direction. What seems to hurt the Clinton Campaign more easily are her private emails while she was Secretary of State.

See how a slew of emails leaked by Julian Assange and maybe Russforcedced the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee to resign.

When Donald Trump asked Russia to leak more of Hillary Clinton’s emails, he was not being sarcastic, he was being half-serious. The emails appear to be Hillary Clinton’s kryptonite.

Recall also that the only other rough time Clinton has had since the general electtion proper began was when the Director of the FBI scolded her over the same emails.

Update: Since yesterday, Trump has upped his attacks against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He seems to have decided that he will return to his uber-populist ways. The polls will soon tell us what the public thinks about this.