A Trump Death Spiral in Progress

One of the more bizarre headlines I’ve seen today is at the New York Times: ‘Trump and N.R.A. Leaders to Discuss Preventing Gun Sales to People on Terror Watch Lists.”

Yes, folks, Trump is openly allowing the NRA to dictate his gun polices. The article says,

Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that people on the terror watch list should be barred from buying firearms, putting himself in the center of a gun-control debate in Congress revived by the worst mass shooting in United States history.

Mr. Trump’s stance, expressed in a Twitter post, does not necessarily jibe with the positions of the Republican Party and the National Rifle Association, whose endorsement Mr. Trump frequently boasts about on the campaign trail. His tweet could be read to support measures pushed by Democrats and opposed by Republicans in Congress, reflecting the unusual nuances of the issue, which touches on public safety and civil rights beyond the Second Amendment.

“I will be meeting with the N.R.A., who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no-fly list, to buy guns,” Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wrote Wednesday morning on Twitter. His comment came three days after 49 people were killed when a gunman who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State stormed an Orlando nightclub.

Trump’s support shows signs of sagging already, if this Guardian article is any indication.

Amid shrinking poll numbers and smaller crowds, Donald Trump’s rhetoric took a dark turn on Wednesday in Atlanta.

The presumptive Republican nominee struck an apocalyptic tone, projecting that the United States would not survive if he were not elected. He raised the notion of welcoming the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, to the United States for negotiations. And he repeated his contention that Japan might have to “go nuclear” if it did not offer the United States better pay for its military protection.

Recent polls show Hillary Clinton leading Trump by double digits nationally. And his unfavorability ratings continue to rise.

That slowdown in support seemed evident on Wednesday when Trump spoke at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, which holds less than half the audience he commanded during his last appearance in Atlanta in February. “This place is packed,” he said, shielding his eyes against stage lights. “We have people outside who couldn’t get in. Does anybody want to give up their seat?”

Apparently Trump could not see the hundreds of empty seats in the theater’s second level. A similarly reduced crowd showed up at a recent campaign stop in Virginia.

Even better, see this just-published piece at New Republic, “American Horror Story.”

By all accounts he has no campaign organization whatsoever. He’s at open war with the Washington Post, having revoked the paper’s press credentials because he didn’t like WaPo’s coverage, and Charles Pierce predicts Trump will lose to the Post.  He’s at war with a portion of the Republican Party, or at least the portion that has refrained from endorsing him. It’s obvious he has no idea what he’s doing or what he’s in for.

We’ve got just over a month before the RNC convention, which I am looking forward to watching with all my heart and soul. This is going to be weirder than Clint Eastwood and the Chair times a million. They’ll have to get Rod Serling from the Afterlife to narrate the thing. Or better, Chuck Barris. But as he shows signs of spiraling further and further out of control, I wonder if he’ll make it to the convention, or to the November election?

Also, don’t miss “How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions.” It’s fascinating.

18 thoughts on “A Trump Death Spiral in Progress

  1. I think even the “Christian” loons in the GOP are looking at what this moronic, demagogic, insane blowhard, and thinking, “Even before the convention, we’d better have a coup to get rid of this coo-coo!”

    That line about the Iraq soldiers stealing millions, had to be one of the most moronic and insuuting utterances by the biggest moron ever to be a major party nominee, EVAH!!!!!

    I don’t expect tRUMP to make it past the convention.
    There will be riots, as the GOP tries to find someone with at least half a brain and some common sense to be their candidate – and even THAT should take about 50+ ballots!

  2. Related: Trump is already preparing for a Palin-esque transition from a losing presidential ticket to a right-wing TV empire.

    Meanwhile, it seems that the news media have decided that they can’t treat Trump like a serious presidential candidate until he takes on the trappings of a serious campaign. Yesterday they cut away from his rally to cover Clinton’s speech. If the media continue not taking him seriously for another two or three weeks, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Trump quit in a huff before the convention.

  3. Oh gee, turtle and hare. Trump down double digits– let’s have a picnic instead making sure we all get out to actually vote….. Well, just my pessimism showing, I hope.

    If people DO vote maybe the down ballot will also benefit. Maybe NC could actually get a US Senator or a Governor–or a Lt. Governor who isn’t a bible-thumping cretin.

    Cundgulag: yea, calling the troops thieves isn’t going score any points with the GOP demographic. Or anyone else, for that matter.

  4. Trump is likely attempting to negotiate a deal with the NRA, taking away the opportunity from the GOP. It really is kinda brilliant.

    After a couple of weeks after Trump announced, I saw how clever he was to use the media to provide campaign messaging. The last couple of months, however, I think he might have overplayed his hand, either accidentally or on purpose. I wonder that he tires and really does not want the presidency.

    I just wish the collapse had happened after the GOP convention.

  5. While I’m glad for the death spiral, things can easily change. All that’s needed is some bad revelation about Hillary, or an ISIS attack. I have little doubt that our enemies would like to see a Donald Trump destroying this country, and are probably planning an October surprise. Regardless, here’s hoping the down trend continues…

  6. Barbara, I’m becoming more convinced by the day that the Republicans will find a way to dump him at their convention, something they can do quite easily, and nominate someone like Ryan. If they do that Hillary and the Dems are in trouble unless they spend at least as much time and energy running against the Republican Party as they are against Trump. Right now I see Trump as the shiny object and the Democrats are so focused on him they are losing the opportunity to remind voters that what Trump stands for, or appears to stand for, is what the Republicans have always stood for but have hid better.

    If Trump gets dumped whoever the Republicans put in his place will be labeled the Great Savior by the media who will drool all over themselves with glee at having a “sensible” Republican in the race, ignoring the reality that at this point they are all equally nuts.

    • Tom Elliot — I agree entirely. I don’t know how Trump can be deposed without causing massive insurrection in the GOP base, however.

  7. Tom Elliot…The Repugs are stuck with Trump…If they manage to get rid of him, they’ll manage to throw away their remote hope of putting a repug in the White House. Trump is too deeply burrowed into the sickness that pervades the repuglican party. Trump is the embodiment, the sickness incarnate, the poison that keeps the party alive.

  8. Possibly but I don’t discount the possibility that picking another candidate at the convention might just energize a lot of Hillary hating moderate Republicans, among others, to be much more engaged in this election. Right now Trump has a vocal minority of support and having an alternative candidate, one who carefully embraces a lot of the Trump energy without engaging in the stupidity, might not calve off as much of his supporters as we might like.

    I just think it is critical for the Dems to run against the Republican Party in this election, especially Hillary, to really embed in the electorate’s collective that Trump and the Republican Party stand for the same things and always have. Trump is the gaping wound in the Party’s firewall of dog whistle politics and now is the time to pour the sand of public attention into that wound for maximum effect.

  9. Old people repeat themselves. Tom, I feel forced to repeat myself as to the loyalty of the tRump supporters. Or rather repeat a quote of a poet who died some 125 years ago on obstinacy. “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions” James Russell Lowell.

    Houston we have a problem.

  10. I’m not entirely convinced they are as stuck with him as you might think. But in any event the smart move for Hillary is to make sure she mentions Trump and Republicans in the same sentence and constantly remind voters that Trump is the embodiment of Republican policies for the last few decades. Remember, this is about more than the Presidential election, it is about electing Congress and to do that we have to also go after Republicans and tie them all to Trump at every opportunity.

    Assuming the electorate is smart enough to figure this stuff out on their own is what gave us Bush the Junior after all. I don’t assume the electorate is all that smart collectively at all electoral levels.

  11. The only one other than Rience Priebus who could have done a better job as chairman of the GOP would be Jack Kevorkian. Old Rience thought he was sifting Trump like wheat when he roped him into signing a pledge to support the eventual nominee..Little did he know that his shrewd political maneuvering was the equivalent of driving a wooden stake through the heart of the GOP or getting bit by a Gila monster.

  12. Are we having fun yet?
    I am. I’m enjoying the prospect of Trump taking a belly flop on the national stage. To me it kinda has a biblical flavor to it..Sorta like Job in the Old Testament saying: “That which I’ve feared the most has come upon me”.. In Donald’s case it’ll be: “That which I dislike the most, I’ve become”..See, Donald doesn’t like losers and he’s about to become a big loser.
    He’s going to be such huge loser that people aren’t going to believe it. A tremendous loser! He going to make public humiliation great again.

  13. I am completely confused as usual. But, it does seem that the only escape route for the Republican establishment is to jettison Trump. The methods that come to mind seem more like plots from some “B” movies. mostly about gangsters.

    If they can cut this albatross from around their necks, it definitely could be trouble. The goggle-eyed granny starver could step up to the plate. He has that kind of callow viciousness that would ensure him a big place in history.

    I think it was Booman who wrote that Trump “is the dog that caught the car,” which rings true in some ways. Maybe it all started out as some kind of grift, and it got out of hand. Trump has no equal as a narcissist, and he must be as high as a kite on the attention that he is getting. He probably lost control quite some time ago. We need an ingenious playwright to form the elements of Trump’s mind into drama. We need another Samuel Beckett at his darkest.

    As Bernie cited, there are a lot of “foolish and dead” among the Trump supporters. But, another image that comes to mind is of a child who has thrown an epic temper tantrum and feels embarrassed and humiliated when he comes to his senses. That’s probably how some former Trump supporters feel. But, some haven’t quite calmed down yet.

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