During the GOP primary contest, the news media and the
opponents of Donald Trump gleefully reported about the many ‘catastrophic’ phases
of the Trump campaign, the duration of these phases were hours, sometimes days
and sometimes even weeks. The result of these phases were supposed to be so calamitous
that they were to sink his campaign and end all his chances of Trump securing
the nominee. It happened after he secured a second place in Iowa Primary, it
happened when he had a tough contest at Wisconsin Primary, it happened when he
said not so generous things about war vet and Senator John McCain and it
happened when Trump responded to Cruz by retweeting an unflattering image of
Sen Ted Cruz’s wife. The media quoted ‘reliable sources’ who stated that the
Trump campaign was in chaos, that there was no organization, no ground game and
no money. Pundits opined that the GOP convention would be contested and
violent. There were rumors that Trump was going to quit or was purposefully
sabotaging his campaign. Despite all these pronouncements of doom, Trump became
the presumptive GOP nominee with the maximum number of votes in the history of
the Primary, and he arrived at the magic number much before anybody predicted.
The proceedings at the convention was rather smooth and he is now the official
nominee of the party.
Now, almost a week after becoming the official nominee, they
are at it again, Trump is supposed to have had a terrible 48 hours that would
once again spell certain doom for his campaign. It began the labelling of his acceptance
speech dark and divisive. Then Trump’s remarks about the Khan family whose son
was killed in the war in Iraq were amplified out of proportion to make it look
like Trump has insulted the armed forces. There were reports that Trump asked
about the use of nuclear weapons when advised on foreign policy. Trump’s jocular
remark urging the Russians to find Hillary’s emails were characterized as a treasonous
attempt to urge the Russian to influence a US election. The media carried
reports that Trump mocked the Purple Heart gifted to him by a war veteran.
Finally they even carried stories of Trump ejecting a crying baby out of his
rally when he was merely joking about the wailing infant. There were rumors again that Trump was quitting the race or purposefully
sabotaging his campaign. There were reports that his family and political
allies are planning an intervention. This is stuff that even a news satire site cannot dream of.
It is clear that the Democrats in collusion with the media are
trying desperately to push an angle that Trump is unstable, unprepared, and
unfit for the job of the President. A sitting President seldom participates in
the campaign, but here we have President Obama jumping into the mix saying that
Trump is unfit to be president and urging Republicans to denounce him
immediately, certainly not presidential is it? There are stories about of poll numbers which suggest that Hillary
Clinton has a ‘strong lead’ over Trump. There are various other folks coming
out of their burrows pronouncing the instability of Trump. They are trying
their very best to scare the voter and possibly take Trump out of the race.
They want to push the GOP establishment in a corner such that they will be left
with no option but to expel Trump.
But why would they do that if all the poll numbers show that
he will most certainly lose to Hillary? Why not let Trump self-implode and run
against him to win? If Trump is such a bloviating ignoramus, just pit him
against Hillary on a week day prime time Debate and pound him to pudding. Why
schedule a debate against an NFL game that guarantees low viewership?
It is clear that the Dems know that polls conducted three
months before the election are meaningless. When Trump jumped into the Primary race
he began at 2 percent, while Jeb Bush was leading, we know how that ended. They
also know that Hilary Clinton is a particularly weak candidate, with no
charisma, no spontaneity and an ability to blatantly falsity. There have also
have been serious concerns about her health problems. Poll after poll suggest
that Hillary has an unfavorable rating like no other and she is not trusted by
the public. Her work record is far from stellar, she voted for the war the
catastrophic war in Iraq and led the intervention in Libya, both of these have
contributed to creation and emboldening of ISIS. The Clinton foundation has
been embroiled in allegations of corruption and financial misappropriation.
Clinton herself had been blamed of negligence and incompetence as after using
her private email server for classified government work. She has been found to
be insensitive and mendacious as she tried to mislead the families of the
victims of the Benghazi attack that the attack was the result of a video when
it was a terrorist attack. During the Clinton Presidency, it has been said that
Hillary, actively participated in the denigration of victims of sexual assault
by Bill Clinton.
The Democrats know that all Trump draws thousands at his
rallies while Clinton barely manages to get hundreds. They know that Trump is a
charismatic figure who has great instincts and an ability to destroy Hillary in
the debate. They know that Trump, unlike other establishment Republicans, will
have no compunctions expose Clinton record and even go into Bill’s
indiscretions. So the ploy is to take him out of the race or employ a tactics
to get Trump occupied with distractors such as the feud with the Khan family. But
this is merely the beginning, there will be more dirt dug up, about Trump and
his family members. There will be more scurrilous allegations. This clearly is
the establishment (including the republicans) sending warning signals to any
other potential challenger as if to say “Anybody else tries this and we will
drag you through the gutter. Your only hope to power is through us”
So how does Trump deal with all this? He must try his best to
present less opportunities for the opposition to present a distraction from his
message. Two words: discipline and focus. He comprehensively defeated sixteen individuals
with decades of political experience. He is now just human being away from
becoming the President, that one person is Hillary Clinton. All he has to do is
focus on destroying her and placing her record before the voters. The Democrats
and the media will continue to make allegations and he has to defend himself
but do it in a manner that is surgical and precise. The Democrats and the media
will continue to parade bogus targets before Trump in the hope to provoke him
to say something inappropriate. But he must not fall into the trap. He can have
his allies such as Paul Manafort, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani to tackle
these distractions. But the only target here is Hillary Clinton and Trump must
never forget that. Most importantly Trump has to keep focusing on issues such
as sluggish economy that has had the slowest growth since 1949, Obama taking in Syrian refugees that could compromise national Security, Obama's failed strategy
on counter terrorism and his own plan to defeat ISIS, the corruption and the shady dealings of the current administration (a recent example is the Obama administration secretly paid $400 million in cash to Iran. which is believed by many to be ransom money as it coincided with with the release of four Americans held in Tehran.) and the issue of illegal
immigration.
Politics was once a dreary affair that had very few
enthusiasts. But the Trump wave had changed that all, voter turnout for the GOP
is through the roof, there are reports that the Trump voter base includes blue
collar people , centrist Democrats and union member who would formerly never
dream to vote for the Republicans. Cynics who never ever voted before are
queuing up to vote for Trump. It is quite clear that Trump has a golden
opportunity at becoming the next occupier of the White House. Trump is a precious
diamond, but even the finest of diamonds needs some polishing around the edges.
For Trump the polishing is a little bit of restraint, discipline and focus. If
Trump can do that he will not just win the Presidency but be a great president
who can lead his country back to greatness.
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