We’re less than 90 days out from the general election featuring two horrible, terrible, loathed candidates. Donald Trump is doing his darned best to, if not implode, make sure that the tent of support not only doesn’t expand, but shrinks. The Hill’s Niall Stanage offers up 5 things that could trip her up
Hillary Clinton shouldn’t start preparing her inaugural address just yet.
There are plenty of things that could trip up her campaign between now and Election Day, even if polls increasingly suggest she is on track to beat Donald Trump in a landslide.
Clinton has a significant advantage in recent polls both nationally and across battleground states. New polls from NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist on Friday put her in a dominant position in states that would be close in a normal election year. In Virginia and Colorado, for instance, Clinton led by 13 and 14 points, respectively.
But those polls came after a brutal stretch for Trump, and the race could tighten significantly heading into the fall.Still, given the electoral map, Trump probably needs some larger development to change the trajectory of the race. Here are five scenarios that could improve Trump’s chances.
Interestingly, there is one huge one missing from the list. Let’s look at this first
- A debate disaster
- A hacking embarrassment
- Clinton voters stay home
- Clinton Foundation revelations
- A terrorist attack
Now, looking at these, it is quite possible that Trump pulls the same type of schtick that he used during the primaries and completely gets her off her game, much as he did to other Republicans. What if he gets her mad and throwing out personal attacks? What if he sends her into coughing fits? Gets her red in the face? The optics would not be good for Team Hillary.
As far as Clinton voters staying home, well, that’s more about Democrat voters staying home. Things like poll support, campaign rally support, social media support, etc, do not necessarily translate into people coming out to vote. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of passion for Hillary as president. We’ll see if this translates into votes staying home.
And they could end up not voting for her. They won’t vote for Trump, that’s for sure. But, might things like her pay-for-play Clinton Foundation schemes cause problems? How about all the money she’s taken from private colleges, which Progressives loathe? Or from countries with horrible human rights records, especially when it comes to gays and women? Might the notion that pretty much all her charitable giving went to her own foundation show her as a charlatan, especially when the Clinton Foundation only spent 10% on actual charity? These are the things that could keep lots of progressives, along with the people who aren’t passionate about politics, home.
A terrorist attack could have an influence, especially if it is a big one by Islamic terrorists, especially since she downplays the threat.
Now, the hacking is mentioned. But this was only in terms of the DNC email hacks. The most dangerous one is whether Wikileaks and Julian Assange, or some other entity, have the emails from her server. Assange has promised a release that could put her in jail. Does he or someone else have that kind of material, or are they blowing smoke? We can brain-storm what it could be all day, but, if there’s something out there, it could keep lots of people at home.
There could be a 7th, that Trump has some special plan to hit her hard after Labor Day in a manner that would reduce her support. Who knows? We’ll see.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
The right always benefits politically from terrorist attacks, to the point of encouraging them! How patriotic! Never waste a human tragedy.
Regarding debates, these will be the first real debates for Trump. He wussed out of the later Repub debates and his performances in the early, uber-crowded, debates consisted of smirks, smart-ass remarks and insults. Most of those debates he spoke 5 minutes, max. That said, although he’s ignorant of policy, he is quick on his feet and utterly shameless. The expectations (like with W and Sarah Palin) are low, so if he can keep from calling Secretary Clinton “cunt” or “whore”, he’ll be OK, although his misogynist schtick could backfire. Perhaps he will explain to the American electorate why he’s hiding his tax returns?
The crux will be if Trump and the far-right media can make their lies stick. Even Teach repeats the 10% to charity lie regarding the Clinton Foundation. (The official number from charity watchdogs is 89%).
https://www.charitywatch.org/ratings-and-metrics/bill-hillary-chelsea-clinton-foundation/478
Maybe Trump’s Russian handlers will leak some embarrassing emails. That’s the plan?
His best chance may be his call out to “2nd Amendment people”.
The Dems have get-out-the-vote operations in every state; The Donald, not so much.
Besides the standard red/blue state divide, he’s behind in PA, OH, NC, FL, CO, VA, WI, MI.
its not “private colleges” it is for profit schemers stealing government money by promising jobs after going to school
Everything has gone wrong with the Clinton campaign, except for one thing: that one thing is that the GOP nominated Donald Trump.
The right always benefits politically from terrorist attacks, to the point of encouraging them! How patriotic! Never waste a human tragedy.
This from the same side that encourages Blacks to riot and murder police officers….You are beyond the pale.
on a side note…..
Trump’s campaign manager admitts to working for the UKRAINE…..are you kidding me?
And now he is under investigation for receiving millions from the Ukraine for unknown reasons of course he denies this.
And where is all the campaign money Trump is getting? What are they using it on?
Words can’t begin to describe the hoodwinking this man has pulled on the GOP and the USA.
Way to go GOP you have truly let your far right idiocy TRUMP even conservative ideology.