Trump Is Unmanageable

Yelling, talking about fights and conspiracy theories. His campaign team was hoping that Donald Trump was done with all that.

After the most terrible week of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has fallen back into his old habits. Habits which his campaign team had hoped that five weeks before the American presidential elections would no longer occur: yelling, discussing private conflicts, conspiracy theories.

In the days after his notoriously disastrous first TV debate with Hillary Clinton, all of those habits have reappeared. Last weekend, for instance, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Right before that rally, The New York Times revealed that in 1995, Trump allegedly suffered a loss of $916 million. That loss would have enabled Trump to avoid paying taxes for 18 years.

Visibly Agitated

Trump’s campaign team prepared an elaborate response, in which the Republican would target the “mainstream media,” and their “pro-Clinton agenda.” But Trump, visibly agitated, mainly spoke of other things. During the debate, “which I think I won,” his microphone wasn’t working well, Trump claimed. “I wonder, was it set up that way on purpose?”

Trump was speculating that a loss could occur in November, because, allegedly, electoral fraud would be committed “in certain areas.” He called for his supporters in those areas, “you know what I’m talking about,” to go and cast their votes at polling stations. He was probably referring to African-American districts in the big cities.

Trump then mimicked Clinton who earlier had fallen ill and had had to leave a meeting in New York. Trump stumbled across the stage, called her “mad” and said she should be in prison.

During the Republican Convention in Cleveland in June, Trump was sold to the American voter mainly with the argument that he is such a fast thinker. The fact that Trump, until then, hadn’t really behaved in a presidential way didn’t really matter so much. It was all going to be alright in the final months before the election, when, rapidly, he would assume a new role.

Slanderous, Personal Attacks

Nothing remains of that promise. Trump’s campaign against Clinton strikingly resembles that of the Republican primaries, when he was still popular, with those slanderous, personal attacks of his. However, now that he also has to persuade swing voters, he is constantly getting himself into trouble.

The Democrats have clearly discovered the winning strategy to beat Trump. Draw him out about a trifle from the past and he will take the bait, eyes wide open.

It happened several times during the debate between Clinton and Trump last week in Hempstead. For example, Clinton mentioned Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe. Trump has often attacked Machado, because, according to him, she was gaining too much weight. He called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.”

Trump reacted exactly the way Team Clinton had hoped he would. During the debate, he seemed panicky – “Where did you get this? Where did you get this?” – and insecure. In the days after, he did what he always does after a personal attack: He dug in. In the middle of the night, he attacked the “disgusting” Machado in a series of tweets. “Check out [her] sex tape and past,” he tweeted.

In moments like these, Trump’s campaign team is powerless. A few weeks ago, Trump expanded his staff with experienced employees, such as pollster Kellyanne Conway, and fired Fox News founder Roger Ailes. This weekend, Conway admitted on CNN that she was unhappy with the attacks on Machado. She confronted Trump about it, she said. Newt Gingrich, a Republican veteran and ally of Trump, talked about a “lost week,” for which he has no one to blame but himself.

Every Strategy Messed Up

The main problem for Trump’s team is that he messes up every strategy. In this phase of the campaign, Trump was supposed to focus on the more highly educated female voters, who live mainly in the outlying districts of the big cities. That group traditionally votes Republican, but according to the polls, has defected to Clinton.

Trump’s remarks about Machado didn’t really help in turning that trend around. Among Republicans, this is seen as an unrepairable gaffe.

The result is that Trump’s steady rise in most polls has already been lost again. Clinton is once again comfortably ahead of Trump, partly because of an 11 percent lead among female voters. Men still have a light preference for Trump.

The Trump campaign should hope for a dramatic change of course on the part of the presidential candidate. But he has shown Clinton his weak side, and does not seem to be able to discipline himself. A few days ago, Republican strategist Rick Tyler lamented that it’s probably already too late for Trump. During almost every campaign, Tyler said, there comes a moment where you realize it’s become borderline impossible to win. “The toothpaste is out of the tube. It’s going to be very difficult for Trump to put it back in the tube.”