by Mike Smith If a Republican wants to be elected president of the United States, uniting the Republican Party — which ranges from New England moderates to Southern conservatives — is an essential step. But apparently Donald Trump’s campaign doesn’t agree that party unification is a prime objective. Instead, the campaign went out of its way, almost from the outset of the Republican National Convention this week, to alienate those who could help them win the presidency.
For example, in the opening hours of the convention Trump’s de facto campaign manager hurled insults at John Kasich — the popular Republican governor of Ohio. Trump is peeved at Kasich for not supporting him. That’s fair. But to go on the attack and jeopardize a victory in a key swing state is just plain reckless. Perhaps Trump figures he doesn’t need a unified Republican Party, or at least not a completely unified one, because he is planning to draw new voters into the general election. But Trump’s decision to ignore the concerns of many Republicans and his failure to reassure the party he is a reliable party member, or even a conservative, may prove his undoing.
And if minimizing the importance of party unity wasn’t a big enough strategic blunder, then there were numerous tactical mistakes this week that hurt the Republican presidential nominee. At times, Trump’s staff was disorganized, with the left hand unaware of what the right hand was doing. In the opening hours of the convention they got caught flat-footed by a parliamentary move by delegates to change the rules to favor Trump’s opponents. The attempt failed, but it was an embarrassment to the Trump campaign organization.
Trump’s wife delivered a speech that was shown to contain sections plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s speech of 2008. Then they failed to effectively quell the storm created by that plagiarism. And they frequently stepped on their own message. Trump himself appeared on Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Show at the same time as Patricia Smith, the mother of a State Department employee killed in Benghazi, taking away the effectiveness of her speech. Smith’s message was powerful: That Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be president because she is incompetent, and incompetency resulted in the deaths of Americans.
This year, Republicans should be excited about the upcoming elections, but many are not. Americans are concerned about growing threats to their security both from foreign and domestic threats, in addition to continued angst about the economy. These are issues that favor Republicans. Plus, most Americans don’t trust Hillary Clinton, which should give a huge advantage to a Republican presidential candidate.
But Trump hasn’t fully capitalized on the issue environment, and he has made himself just as distasteful, if not more distasteful, to voters than Clinton. Even after the FBI said she was reckless and broke rules regarding classified information, Clinton maintains a slight advantage in national polls.
If Trump moves ahead with the same campaign organization he used in the primaries, the results will be devastating for Republicans in the general election — not just for the highest office in the land, but up and down the ticket and in every corner of the country. Trump and his campaign must be more organized, more professional, and much more disciplined if they hope to have a chance in November.
Right now, they appear to be total amateurs leading with the same level of over-the-top arrogance as their boss. The fact is, they are in a new and high-stakes political world that requires them to be much more savvy than they have shown themselves to be so far. The only reason Trump remains close to Hillary Clinton in most national polls is because many Americans believe she represents the status quo, at a time when most are craving for fundamental change.
Even after his convention speech it remains unclear if Trump is willing or able to transform his campaign from a fringe and disorganized operation to one that can capture the support of the voting blocs he needs to win. Many are skeptical.
In politics, you only get a few opportunities to convince voters you are their best choice. The party conventions are one of those golden opportunities. Donald Trump failed to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Mike Smith was the secretary of administration and secretary of human services under former Gov. Jim Douglas. He is the host of the radio program, “Open Mike with Mike Smith,” on WDEV 550 AM and 96.1, 96.5 and 101.9 FM. He is also a political analyst for WCAX-TV and WVMT radio and is a regular contributor to The Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Business Magazine.