If I treat the question "Is the Trump Campaign for real?" as answered in the affirmative, then the Trump campaign is a staggeringly weird one, and just one day's worth of material is probably fodder for a dozen blog posts about it's awfulness. I have simply never encountered such an embarrassment of riches regarding the awfulness of a campaign before. It's legendary, in a way.
If I were just to start from the news that the leak earlier in June in response to the disappointing FEC finance figures that showed Trump as having barely over $1 million on hand, in whch he was definitely going to forgive the "loans" to the tune of $50 million tht he made to his campaign, tht sort of justified his claims to being "self-funding"--were apparently bullshit. There has not yet been any proof at all he's tried to do any such a thing as forgive those loans, although he might now that his June numbers have gotten settled up--
Oh, there is an odd thing about them, though. He might have lied his ass off about how well his current round of fundraising (what with hitting up various foreign nationals all over the place and all) has gone. This is incredible because it should not be possible--how would anyone ever have the cheek to lie about whether he was forgiving his own loans or how well his fundraising effort was doing this close to the end of June, when its all really checkable? Like, is it possible he did not know that both of those things would be found out? Or did he unrealistically think that either of those revelations would set off a Ron Paul-style "money-bomb" and make it rain on his campaign? (Did he think an impossible rate like Ron Paul's 24 hour $6 mill figure could get sustained if one rhetorically kept it amped?)
I dunno. The FEC is already looking askance at his e-mails to the foreign nationals--this looks like both desperation and moves that simply aren't savvy enough about sophisticated campaign finance gambits. It all seems very amateur.
He's also had some optic issues vis a vis the somewhat open racism problem he's been beset with, it the form of having a particularly outspoken surrogate unapologetically lambaste Sen. Elizabeth Warren with offensive Native American language. Trump is no stranger to maligning Native Americans. This is a pretty ugly thing to note about Trump--but he really is historically pretty racist and even xenophobic and nativist, even if he isn't really clear on what those words mean. Sad!
But what is there to say about someone who is oftentimes reluctantly endorsed, if that, and at times excoriated by people of his own party, like Sen. Mike Lee, who is kind of a Constitutionalist, or will be avoided by Rep. Mia Love, who is not represented by the things Trump says? How does any "smaller government, civil liberties" loving conservative square Trump with his penchant for eavesdropping? Can he be expected not to practice executive over-reach in that light?
And what of his somewhat vaunted recent "baby Christianity"--a claim that has been walked back--was he faking be born-again to a sympathetic listener? Because, in a way, to someone who does have a personal spiritual journey to witness, trying to fake that relationship might seem very opportunistic and dishonest.
And it should.
It's right that well-regarded figures who might support Trump in theory are skeptical of the value of being seen supporting him in public. They understand that his rhetoric has been beyond the pale, even if they don't yet accept that this means his conduct in office would be.
Trumpster fire status: still burning.
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