He could have boasted about US economic growth before the corona pandemic, how he has nominated three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, about the taxes he has cut and how the Democrats in the Senate are now blocking a $ 500 billion corona crisis package.
Instead, US President Donald Trump has longed towards presenters and TV programs, ridiculed US infection control major Anthony Fauci and attacked Joe Biden and his scandal-ridden son Hunter.
Now Republican senators fear the president’s lack of focus could cost them dearly in the fight for political survival, according to Politico.
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– No discipline
Trump’s communication in the crucial election campaign is described as “undisciplined” by the Trump-allied Republican senator John Cornyn from Texas.
– There is simply no discipline. The president has great achievements he can point to in the election campaign, but we do not hear much about them. And I think it is a mistake, he says to Politico.
Other Republican senators fear that the party itself will be harmed, because Trump’s message is too narrow to appeal to independent voters.
The men who intimidate the United States
– When trying to win the votes of independent voters, you need to talk about issues that are important to them. That is what our members are trying to do, and it is hopefully something the president can do as well, says Senator John Thune of South Dakota.
And on Friday night, Trump may have the greatest opportunity to do just that. Then the stage is set for the latest debate between Trump and challenger Joe Biden.
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Expert: That’s why he attacks
But US expert Hilmar Mjelde, a researcher at the Norce Research Center, is unsure whether Trump is at all capable of changing the way he communicates.
– Because Trump will never be anyone other than who he is, and he will not pretend either. The presidency, in all its grandeur, offers daily opportunities to get the ship on the right keel, but Trump has said outright that it is boring to be presidential, Mjelde tells Dagbladet.
But while the form of communication may not change, Trump is able to adapt to other messages.
“Shit package” that shakes the United States
– Trump’s positions are transactional and situational. He adapts along the way. He now suspects that people are tired of the coronary restrictions, so he attacks them and infection control chief Fauci, instead of talking about their results, Mjelde says.
The researcher completely agrees with the Republican senators that Trump is undisciplined.
– He is the most undisciplined president and presidential candidate in modern times, perhaps ever. Therefore, his administration has also been extraordinarily chaotic, more chaotic than Bill Clinton’s first year, and that says something, says Mjelde.
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– Strength and weakness
And the US expert thinks we will see the version of Trump we have become accustomed to in the time ahead, and tonight to Friday’s debate.
– Trump has only one way to be. It is his greatest strength and greatest weakness as a candidate. Possibly he can be a little less aggressive. I see Karl Rove (former adviser to George W. Bush, journ.anm.) And Newt Gingrich (former top Republican) asking him to do it. It is not impossible for Trump to take that advice, says Mjelde.
Because it was on the advice of, among others, Gingrich and his former adviser Kellyanne Conway that Trump managed to formulate a more disciplined message in the election campaign in 2016, Mjelde says.
New leak
But it did not last long.
– In 2016, he managed it the last couple of weeks, to a certain extent. Not this year. I wonder if he sometimes just looks for a way out and is somehow ready to get off. Although he has a good chance of being re-elected, says the US expert.
So how to formulate a message with broader appeal?
– If he managed to talk about something other than himself, maybe. On the other hand, presidential elections are determined as much by structural factors as the economy, the pandemic and government attrition. So we will not give too much weight to the election campaign either, says Mjelde.
