WSJ Editorial Board Warns Trump Must Get Serious or Turn Nomination Over to Pence

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:02 pm

The reliably conservative editors of the Wall Street Journal have turned on Donald Trump, the Editorial Board writing Sunday that Trump “needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President—or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence.”

No half measures here. The WSJ is calling this Trump’s “moment of truth,” and is brutally accurate in its portrayal of the Trump campaign, and one has to wonder if Trump will react as violently as he has to The New York Times‘ critique of his campaign.

The WSJ pointed out that Trump had done himself no favors in their eyes by attacking the media Sunday, writing that,

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The latest stories comport with what we also hear from sources close to the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump’s advisers and his family want the candidate to deliver a consistent message making the case for change. They’d like him to be disciplined. They want him to focus on growing the economy and raising incomes and fighting terrorism.”

The bewildered editors ask,

“Is that so hard? Apparently so. Mr. Trump prefers to watch the cable shows rather than read a briefing paper. He thinks the same shoot-from-the-lip style that won over a plurality of GOP primary voters can persuade other Republicans and independents who worry if he has the temperament to be Commander in Chief.”

It is probably not so hard. Rather, Trump has learned that keeping his followers angry and fearful works much better than talking about complicated issues they are loathe to understand. Like Trump himself (or Palin), Trump “hears” things from people vague references to “the shows.” This is neither a deep thinking candidate nor a deep thinking crowd. Most deep-thinking Republicans have already detached themselves from Trump’s flaming ego.

The editors do raise a valid point:

“By now it should be obvious that none of this is working. It’s obvious to many of his advisers, who are the sources for the news stories about dysfunction. They may be covering for themselves, but this is what happens in failing campaigns. The difference is that the recriminations typically start in October, not mid-August.

“These stories are appearing now because the polls show that Mr. Trump is on the path to losing a winnable race. He is now losing in every key battleground state, some like New Hampshire by double digits. The Midwest industrial states he claimed he would put into play—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania—have turned sharply toward Mrs. Clinton.”

Seriously – logic? To the Trump crowd? Trump just tweeted Sunday,

“I have always been the same person-remain true to self.The media wants me to change but it would be very dishonest to supporters to do so!”

He can’t change; but he can blame the media for his problems.

So the editors are left to conclude, “Mr. Trump has alienated his party and he isn’t running a competent campaign.”

“Those who sold Mr. Trump to GOP voters as the man who could defeat Hillary Clinton now face a moment of truth. Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort and the talk-radio right told Republicans their man could rise to the occasion.

“If they can’t get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races. As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President—or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence.”

Taking Trump behind the woodshed and paddling him like this won’t have any effect on Trump; nothing will. As he says, he is being himself. At least, his current self. He has been other selfs before. But this is the personal he has taken into the 2016 presidential race, the one he thought would get him to the finish line.

He has cashed in huge in the primaries, among the deluded and disaffected conservative base. But what he’s selling isn’t wanted outside that narrow, and ever shrinking demographic. On the other hand, the establishment had their chance last election with Romney, and that didn’t sell either.

The truth is, though the WSJ can no more see it than can Fox News or Breitbart, there isn’t a whole helluva lot of difference between establishment and base, and Americans just don’t want it.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.