It's been a slog for the Trump campaign the past few weeks. Let's face it: President Joe Biden was former President Donald Trump's clearest path to victory. And the gift that kept on giving has laid its last golden egg. Biden is gone. It's incredible how poor a candidate he was. And it took his exit to fully realize just how bad off the Democrats were with him at the top of the ticket.
Enter Vice President Kamala Harris, and the euphoria that was pent up has been released like water over Niagara Falls. I get that. Political flaks know what a honeymoon looks like. They know what to do: Weather that slight bump but continually rage against the machine -- in this case, the Democrat machine that is now Harris/Walz.
It's at this stage of the presidential campaign that Trump's limited political experience has failed him. Sure, he is surrounded by a team of experts with years of being on the campaign trail. But I've seen enough presidential races to know that it takes a veteran at the top -- the candidate himself -- to recognize when the ship of state is listing and in need of a course correction. Even candidates who didn't go on to win the White House adjusted and pivoted to match the shifting winds of the electorate, to respond to the zeitgeist of the day. I have yet to see the pivot. And frankly it must come from the candidate himself, not even his VP pick.
Trump needs a course correction ... and quickly. As I type this, the first ballots in Pennsylvania get mailed out in less than 38 days. If there is one state every election watcher has their eye on, it's Pennsylvania. So technically, both sides have weeks, not months, to begin to make their marks on a small map impacted by the Electoral College.
Three things are a political imperative to get the Trump Train back on its tracks:
-- Stay on mission. The Biden-Harris administration is the mission. Harris is Biden's standard-bearer. Everything he touched during his term, he put into the ditch. Inflation, the economy, jobs (see the stock market last week?), fentanyl, immigration, housing, the list is endless. No one -- and I mean no one -- believes they are better off under Biden and Harris. So attack her. Toss in Biden for good measure. He reminds even wobbly Democrat voters what they almost were stuck with. Michigan has 800,000 Arab American voters. Remind them of how bad Biden/Harris was for their agenda. Don't get distracted with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He's a proxy for her terrible policies. When both start doing press conferences, be ready to attack everything they say, because their responses will not match what is keeping American families up at night. Please, no more talk of stolen elections. Look presidential and keep the main thing the main thing: Harris is scary.
-- Focus on pocketbook politics. It may surprise you to realize that inflation is named as a top concern among even young voters in focus groups. They know what's in their pockets. They calculate and think about their retirement accounts. Biden threatened that. Harris has no answer. We'll never get back the double-digit price hikes that Bidenomics gave America. We are only now beginning to see inflation growth decline. That's not relief. Further, voters in these swing states worry about immigration even if they don't say it with a microphone in their face. This is the silent majority that doesn't sit up at night wondering if the boys bathrooms at their local school has tampons in them (thanks, Tim). They're not hoping the government funds puberty blockers for nine-year-olds (thanks Tim). They're struggling to pay off credit card debt, which is the highest per household we've ever seen. Democrats have no vision to turn this economy around or even get it jumpstarted again. Call them on it.
-- Help down-ticket races. Finally a different twist -- take this message to West Virginia, Montana, Ohio, Nevada and New Mexico, and help your party down-ticket. Ohioans, for example, love Trump. Help out the Senate race there. Trump will help himself, I promise. The same is true in at least four or five other states and in some key congressional districts across the country. Don't miss the opportunity to grow an incoming majority in the Senate.
This race is far from over. And both sides will take their fair share of lumps while doling out a hefty amount of political ordnance. The winning side will be the one that makes the fewest mistakes and stays on mission. It won't be easy, but it will be simple.
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