With advisers and key donors pleading with Donald Trump to dial back the personal attacks and stick to addressing issues they believe will resonate with voters, the former president reportedly has told insiders he is having a "struggle."
According to a new report from the New York Times' Michael C. Bender and Michael Gold, the Trump campaign has gamed out a battle plan for taking on Vice President Kamala Harris, hitting her on crime and problems at the border, but they are having continual problems making the GOP nominee stick to the script.
As the report notes, casino magnate and prominent Trump donor Steve Wynn has battled with the former president about how he is going about campaigning and went to the expense of commissioning a poll that shows Trump needs independent voters if we wants to win.
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Despite that, the Times is reporting that Trump is admitting that he feels the Democratic attacks on him are so personal that he has no choice to respond in kind to the dismay of some of his advisers.
"Mr. Trump has told two people that he struggles to avoid making personal attacks because of how much animosity he feels for his opponents. He said that overwhelming hostility — whether it was for Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, President Biden or now Ms. Harris — made it difficult for him to not take shots, said the two people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations," the Times report states.
Adding to the Trump campaign woes is their candidate's evident lack of interest in talking about policies during his rallies because they don't generate the responses from the crowd that fuels him.
"Part of Mr. Trump’s struggle to stay on message could be linked to his visible lack of interest onstage when he reads his prepared speech. When Mr. Trump stuck to the script, he often sounded affectless, as if he was resigned to just getting through the remarks. But he seemed energized when he fell back on familiar habits and interacted with supporters at the smaller events," the report states.
According to one GOP campaign strategist, the former president is currently not doing himself any favors.
“One of the ways to win over swing voters is not by personal attacks — by nature, they don’t love partisan politics, but they’re also not thrilled about the direction of the country and the performance of the economy,” explained Kevin Madden. “And every day Trump isn’t talking about that is a wasted day.”
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