GOP experts agree it's Trump's 'election to lose' — and he's 'squandering' an opportunity

Two Republican political experts agree: The U.S. economy slowing combined with recent world events means this is former President Donald Trump's election to lose. And both experts seemed to wonder aloud, "What is Trump doing?"

Erick Erickson, the founder of Red State, questioned Trump's actions on the social media site X on Monday night.

"We've gone from Democrats screaming about the polls to Republicans," he said. "The reality is this is Trump's race to win or lose."

Trump has a "broader path" to victory than Harris as of now, he said. And the wind is at his back.

"The economy and world events favor him. But he needs to define Harris," he added.

Read also: 'Telling': Right-wing host catches heat for saying pro-democracy talk is 'attack on Trump'

GOP strategist Mike Madrid, who served as California's GOP political director before co-founding the group of current and former anti-Trump Republicans known as the Lincoln Project, agreed.

"Erick is right," he replied on the app. "The most valuable commodity in a campaign is time. Remarkable how Republicans are squandering the opportunity to define Harris. At a certain point the attacks will fail to stick. We're getting close to that point with VP pick & convention coming up."

Several users on X honed in on the experts' take that Trump needs to define Harris.

"She's been VP for almost four years. She's defined," replied @Maggiemarbles.

"I think the time has passed to define her in their perspective," wrote @DanielNy92. "With the vp pick and convention it will blunt any criticism."

"Ya, but even if Trump defines Harris, she has the money to keep him off of tv and social media entirely by buying up ad space," wrote "@TampaBayAndrew.

"She has defined herself on so many topics (thankfully). but I think highlighting her dubious stances is important. but that’s already happening," replied @olivia_p_walker.