Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:21 pm
Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak freaked out over what he sees as Donald Trump “threatening the entire GOP and it could take a decade to erase the damage. We are looking at an extinction-level event.”
Read on:
1/ Ok, this shit's not funny anymore. Trump is threatening elected GOPers at all levels in places that haven't been competitive in decades.
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— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
2/ It's time to get real. Stop campaigning in states that are gone: CT, NY, ME, CA, CO and VA. Just stop. You re wasting time.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
3/ You have a narrow path. Hold the Romney states (in order of danger: NC, AZ, GA, UT). And then pick up OH, PA and FL. That's it.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
4/ I'd be ok with Trump and Pence ignoring every state but OH, PA, FL and NC from here on out. Let paid media and RNC field win UT, GA & AZ.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
5/ More fundamentally, the Trump campaign needs to discover the value of scarcity. Make Trump scarce. Fewer interviews. Shorter rallies.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
6/ Do they have a daily message? It appears when there's a speech. Otherwise it does not appear they have a daily message. That's insane.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
7/ Can Trump show discipline for the rest of August? No more loose talk. Exciting a crowd isn't impressive. Winning a battleground state is.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
8/ Trump is threatening the entire GOP and it could take a decade to erase the damage. We are looking at an extinction-level event.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
9/ Where is the bottom? His floor appears to be 38%. His ceiling appears to be 42%. Hillary's range appears to be 44%-49%
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
10/ Trump appeared to have turned a corner last week on Friday, quiet on weekend, good speech Mon. But blew it w/ 2A & ISIS comments.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
14/ You can't overstate panic inside GOP currently. Lots of conversations taking place. More defections coming. Will they be before debate?
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
17/ Trump has said all along that this was a waste of time if he loses. So why isn't he changing course in an attempt to win?
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) August 11, 2016
Unless Donald Trump changes personalities or the “promised” October surprise from the Russian hacking is exploited by a media that has decided letting the Russians dictate a US election by illegal hacking is a good plan, Republicans need to start dealing with the Problem Named Donald.
The question now is how much can the NRA buy House Republicans out of Donald Trump’s mouth and more to the point, can the Republicans hang on to their slim majority in the Senate with Donald Trump trickling down the toxicity.
The problem for strategists like Mackowiak is that he is still giving advice to Trump and can’t understand why Trump won’t take it. The advice to lay low, in what way does this serve Donald Trump’s number one agenda? It doesn’t.
I might remind Republicans of Sarah Palin’s attempts to upstage Senator John McCain at his concession speech, and this time the Palin is the front-runner. Republicans have no control over Trump; that has been made very clear.
Mackowiak and his party are examining Trump and the problems with Trump and how he can win this campaign by laying low and shutting up. But what they should be doing is asking themselves how they got here – AGAIN – and how they can fix the fatal flaw that keeps giving them damaged, unstable, incapable people as candidates.
I would suggest that the many excuses Republicans have put forth to protect their party from consequences for all of these years are coming home to roost. At some point, you either have principles and grow up or you become Donald Trump.
The extinction-level event is not Donald Trump. Trump is the symptom of the extinction-level event. The extinction-level event is having policies that are not good for the majority of the country and using religion and division to sell those policies under a very damaged and no longer viable “family values” brand.
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