Trump is headed for 'One-Term Island' because he's his own worst enemy: conservative

In his column for the Daily Beast, conservative Matt Lewis claimed Donald Trump's blundering campaign may give the appearance that he doesn't want to win re-election, but the truth is the president is screwing up any chance he has of stopping his campaign's collapse.

The way Lewis -- who left the Republican Party due to Trump -- sees it, the president might as well book passage to "One-Term Island" because that is where he is headed.

According to the conservative, if there is a good way to conduct a campaign, Donald Trump would reject it out of hand and do the opposite.

"Consider a checklist of recent decisions: He’s trailing in the polls, but he decided to withdraw from a debate because the organizers wanted to make it virtual. With just weeks to go before Election Day, he publicly walked away from a COVID-19 relief bill (until 'after the election') that would have sent government checks to desperate Americans," he wrote. "During a recent debate, he told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by,' and during Thursday night’s televised town hall, he refused to criticize the QAnon conspiracy theory (CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!)."

As Lewis explains, this should not come as any surprise after watching the president for four years after he "miraculously won the election in 2016," and that it appears that any advice Trump gets from professional campaign consultants with a history of success is being ignored.

"Trump’s bizarre campaign decisions go far beyond his offensive rhetoric. On any given day, Trump chooses to zig when any smart strategist would say to zag. Seriously, if you were to approach some of the top political advisers in the political business with a theoretical decision—say, ask a Karl Rove or a James Carville about a given political choice—nine times out of 10, Trump’s gut instinct would lead him to do the exact opposite of what they advised," he wrote before adding, "... there’s a temptation to think Trump has some masterful, if counterintuitive, insight. And maybe he will prove to be miraculous once again. But the notion that the so-called experts are playing checkers while Trump plays three-dimensional chess just doesn’t comport with the fact that Rove and Carville both got their principals re-elected, while Donald Trump appears to be headed toward bunking down with Jimmy Carter on One-Term Island."

According to the columnist Trump has been deceiving himself that his political instincts are good even when he flops because, "he wins because he says he wins or because he acts like he wins," with Lewis suggesting, "One man’s confidence is another man’s arrogance."

"If Trump loses, he will serve as yet another cautionary tale. The story keeps repeating. Someone audacious surprises everyone, but his reach exceeds his grasp, and he is humbled," he concluded. 

You can read more here (subscription required).