As Donald Trump drops in the polls, there have been some truly astonishing development within the GOP, with the party establishment worrying that not only will he lose and lose big, but that he will drag down the party in down ballot races and thus they will lose control of the US Senate and even, in the most extreme scenario, the House of Representatives.
As a result there have been speculations ranging from staging an intervention to get him to tone down his intemperate remarks to planning for the possibility that he might simply quit the race to suggesting that he may be mentally unstable. I have never witnessed a presidential race before where these kinds of speculations were being openly made, adding to the sense that we are witnessing a unique race. But it is all absurd. Trump is not going to quit nor will there be any interventions. The only thing they tell us is the level of concern in the party that this election is going to be a train wreck of massive proportions.
Trump is laying the groundwork for explaining away his possible loss by saying that the voting might be rigged while at the same time suggesting that the polls themselves are rigged against him. Yes, folks, we are seeing the return of ‘unskewing the polls’, the fun game practiced by Mitt Romney supporters in 2012 and whose only result was to delude themselves and Romney that they were actually winning when they were not, so that they were totally gobsmacked when the election results hewed closely to the poll predictions.
Meanwhile, the American Psychiatric Association says that people should not ascribe Trump’s behavior to mental illness or otherwise try to psychoanalyze his mental state from afar.
Actually, I do not think the election is going to result in a blowout win for either side. Trump has already started to focus his attacks on Hillary Clinton and if that shift shows positive results in the polls, he may well stick to that message because for him, winning is the only thing that matters.
To make such accusations of rigging so incredibly early in the election process is ridiculous. We’re still a couple of months away from the election and he’s already making excuses for losing?
He seems to be planting the seeds for his supporters to be able to label a HRC presidency as illegitimate (not that they need another reason in their minds). If he wins, he won despite the fact that the election was rigged (“we did it!”). If she wins, it was because the election was rigged, and they can immediately begin efforts to remove her from office, while adding usurper to the other allegations (email, Benghazi, etc.) that would make her victory null and void.
Does he really want the job? Four years of hard work, one that requires working with Congress, not just ordering underlings around? If he DOES drop out before November, I wonder how his diehard supporters would react. Enraged at being betrayed? I doubt that. They will continue to spew their rhetoric at the groups they hate and blame for all their woes (whether real or perceived). They have become so riled up and emotionally involved in all he represents that they won’t hold it against him. Would they vote for whomever replaced him on the Republican ticket?
Meh. He will still be on the ballot in 50 states, unless there are steps taken to remove him. People will vote for him regardless.
Matt G.,
I think that he definitely likes the perks that go with the job such as all the pomp and ceremony, the security around him, being in the public eye all the time, all of which carry the trappings of being a Very Important Person.
He’ll probably let others handle the details of the actual job.
I’m not so sure that Drumph won’t quit the race. If the polls continue showing Clinton beating him by several points for a long enough time, I can well imagine him walking away rather than hanging around for an obvious loss. “I’m just gonna take my ball and go home”, is the refrain of every incompetent narcissist.