Right now it looks like President Donald Trump is unstoppable. While he's taking his victory lap and revenge tour, he's cutting down every potential Democratic rival. According to veteran reporter Mike Allen, that doesn't mean he can't be beaten.
Republicans in South Carolina are trying to mobilize GOP voters to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the open Democratic primary so he will be Trump's challenger. But even if Sanders is the nominee, he'll have a pathway to victory plowed, in part, by his primary opponents.
Writing in Axios, Allen explained that the buckets of money former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is dumping into attacking the president is cutting Trump down to size.
"Yes, he has a big early edge in raising money and gaming Facebook to target voters," wrote Allen. "But Michael Bloomberg is willing to spend $2 billion (some say twice that) to easily level things — and will spend big even if he's not the nominee."
According to Allen, there are things Trump needed to do to ensure his reelection, namely broaden his base beyond people who simply hated Hillary Clinton and were willing to take a chance on him.
"Trump won in 2016 by 80,000 votes, thanks in part to low Democratic turnout. There is scant evidence he has broadened his base, even as he solidifies it," wrote Allen.
In swing states, Allen explained that Trump is polling within the margin of error against all Democrats, none of whom are even campaigning in those states yet. Those numbers for Trump are also well below 50 percent at a time, Allen wrote, Trump should be enjoying huge successes from his economic numbers. Among the top-tier candidates, Trump is losing in those states.
The Bloomberg influence is significant, Allen explained. The actual billionaire has more money than Trump has ever had and is already spending three times as much on microtargeted social media advertising.
Wednesday night, George Conway, Republican lawyer and partner to Kellyanne Conway, suggested Bloomberg do a poll of Fox News viewers about what information they don't know about the president. He could then run ads to tell them that information they've missed from the Fox filters.
Allen argued in his piece that Democrats have been too overwhelmed by Trump's win in 2016 to notice the signs of vulnerability. He's encouraging them to do it now, before it's too late.
