Republicans Wonder If Trump Can Recover From ‘Worst Week’
Republicans Wonder If Trump Can Recover From ‘Worst Week’
“The hole that Trump has dug for himself is very deep.”
By Sahil Kapur
The worst week of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign began with a widely criticized debate performance and ended with a bombshell report that he could have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years.
In between, the blustery Republican lashed out at a Latina beauty queen in a series of 5 a.m. tweets, faced opposition from conservative editorial boards, went after Bill Clinton’s history of infidelity while refusing to discuss his own, was found to have appeared in a Playboy soft-core porn film, mocked Hillary Clinton’s recent battle with pneumonia, and told a crowd she “could actually be crazy.”
“This could be the worst week in presidential history for any candidate,” said Rick Tyler, a Republican strategist and former communications director for Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. “I certainly wouldn't know how to top it.”
Many Republicans were left wondering whether Trump could recover or if he had effectively lost the race in the past seven days.
“The hole that Trump has dug for himself is very deep,” said Joe Watkins, a former aide to President George W. Bush. “Given the large viewing audience for the first debate and week of big missteps by Trump, it's possible that it could be too late to turn it around.”
The Trump campaign and its allies seemed uncharacteristically frozen in place as the headlines mounted, unable to go on the offensive against Clinton as events spiraled beyond their control. Trump’s own advisers publicly pleaded with him to be more disciplined.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called it “a lost week, a week which has hurt him, which has shaken his own supporters” in a Friday appearance on Fox News. On Sunday, Trump’s supporters tried to spin revelations published in the New York Times that the candidate had reported $916 million dollars in losses on his 1995 tax returns as evidence that he’s a savvy businessman.
As the week opened, the Associated Press also reported that Trump repeatedly demeaned women on the set of his reality-TV show The Apprentice, a charge Trump’s campaign denied.
READ MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles...
“The hole that Trump has dug for himself is very deep.”
By Sahil Kapur
The worst week of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign began with a widely criticized debate performance and ended with a bombshell report that he could have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years.
In between, the blustery Republican lashed out at a Latina beauty queen in a series of 5 a.m. tweets, faced opposition from conservative editorial boards, went after Bill Clinton’s history of infidelity while refusing to discuss his own, was found to have appeared in a Playboy soft-core porn film, mocked Hillary Clinton’s recent battle with pneumonia, and told a crowd she “could actually be crazy.”
“This could be the worst week in presidential history for any candidate,” said Rick Tyler, a Republican strategist and former communications director for Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. “I certainly wouldn't know how to top it.”
Many Republicans were left wondering whether Trump could recover or if he had effectively lost the race in the past seven days.
“The hole that Trump has dug for himself is very deep,” said Joe Watkins, a former aide to President George W. Bush. “Given the large viewing audience for the first debate and week of big missteps by Trump, it's possible that it could be too late to turn it around.”
The Trump campaign and its allies seemed uncharacteristically frozen in place as the headlines mounted, unable to go on the offensive against Clinton as events spiraled beyond their control. Trump’s own advisers publicly pleaded with him to be more disciplined.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called it “a lost week, a week which has hurt him, which has shaken his own supporters” in a Friday appearance on Fox News. On Sunday, Trump’s supporters tried to spin revelations published in the New York Times that the candidate had reported $916 million dollars in losses on his 1995 tax returns as evidence that he’s a savvy businessman.
As the week opened, the Associated Press also reported that Trump repeatedly demeaned women on the set of his reality-TV show The Apprentice, a charge Trump’s campaign denied.
READ MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles...
