2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSo the Lewandowski thing. Is Trump going to start acting sane now?
Looks like everyone around him, including his kids, realized that crazy racist Donald wasn't going to win the general election. I always thought that he was going to try and act sane for the GE.
The question is, can he pull it off? And even if he does, will it be able to undo the damage he's already done to his reputation?
NWCorona
(8,541 posts)I just don't think he can control himself. He's in a different ball game and isn't prepared.
YouDig
(2,280 posts)Also, "sane Trump" with the teleprompter is really boring and uninspiring, and also comes across as dumb.
NWCorona
(8,541 posts)YouDig
(2,280 posts)MyNameGoesHere
(7,638 posts)culminating with actual feces flinging.
LongtimeAZDem
(4,494 posts)The election is more than four months away; that is a very long time in politics.
He has energized a large following; if they can rehabilitate his image to recapture the base, we have a serious problem.
We can beat him, but we need to start now; we can't waste the next month squabbling among ourselves.
YouDig
(2,280 posts)First, keep reminding voters, constantly, of all the crazy racist stuff he's already said. Ads all over TV. Don't let him escape the damage he's done.
Second, if he does try to "play sane", keep poking and prodding him and his ego. Try to get him to lose his cool. You know he wants to.
Cosmocat
(14,543 posts)and something could happen to radically change the dynamics.
But, Trump is who he is.
He is not going to be anything other than the guy who goes up there, wings it and says some crazy ass shit pretty much every time he opens his mouth.
Lord Magus
(1,999 posts)His problem is that he's incapable of expanding beyond his core base of racists loons. That base and the "vote for anything with an R by the name" crowd are all the support tRump gets.
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)His core supporters been fed on a steady meaty diet of overt racism and xenophobia, and they will not take kindly to him "going soft".
wcmagumba
(2,871 posts)Maru Kitteh
(28,303 posts)He can barely read. You want him to act now too?
And his kids? They're probably just hoping he doesn't spend the entire inheritance and go bankrupt again because he will not have his "brand" to fall back on now. It's TOXIC, no sponsors will touch it.
Ivanka is probably back there trying to figure out how to rebrand herself, because Daddy just ruined it for her. I'm willing to bet her sales have plummeted.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Sounds like the whole family is not wrapped tight.
LiberalFighter
(50,504 posts)3catwoman3
(23,819 posts)...too tight.
SaschaHM
(2,897 posts)Trump is an alpha dog who has been doing this his way for years. We may get a teleprompter speech every now and then, but he's not going to stop his racist fear mongering because Paul Manafort may give him a spanking. His crowds aren't going to let him let up either. Honestly, all the democrats need to do is send out PoC to challenge him and we'll have a new "Donald is a bigot" ad when he unleashes his predictably racist response.
Maeve
(42,224 posts)Any attempt to tone it down will fail, both because Trumplethinskin thinks he's always right and because his fans expect it. He's not an actor--he can't act other than what he is for any length of time and that is a self-absorbed schmuck. And no, the damage to his brand will take years to repair even if he gets out now before the really big guns start firing (tax fraud, bait-and-switch business tactics, unfulfilled promises of money going to charity, etc.)
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)He's going to double down on the crazy, guaranteed. What's interesting to me is that he has not issued a statement about the firing. I think his kids have a muzzle on him right now (maybe he's being medicated lol), but once they turn him loose the shit is really going to fly!
Maru Kitteh
(28,303 posts)I have a feeling, they're much too late.
C_U_L8R
(44,895 posts)Oh boy the GOP is in for a big fat mess.
0rganism
(23,856 posts)a couple weeks after the convention, it'll go back to 4-sheets-to-the-wind time for him again, because he gets off on it, but it will be a lot more handled - Manafort's a pro and he'll be working day and night to find a way to package the Donald to sell.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)MFM008
(19,776 posts)Ivanka as his running mate.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)He won't change. To do so would be to admit that he was wrong in the past, and that will never happen. He will double down and make a complete ass of himself. I'd bet good money on that.
YouDig
(2,280 posts)One thing that makes me confident about that is that I used to think that crazy was just an act for him to appeal to the GOP base, but now I'm pretty sure crazy and racist is the real Donald, and if he wants to act sane, he's going to have to be fighting his instinct the whole time.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)and trigger a full psychotic meltdown in front live TV. It would be so satisfying to watch him carted away to the funny farm.
SDJay
(1,089 posts)You can come off as the most level-headed guy in the universe for weeks if you want to. Hillary will have you eating your own pants within 10 minutes of sharing the debate stage with her.
I think that's when this pig freaks out once and for all - when HRC eviscerates him live in a debate. He won't have handlers to help him and he won't have Twitter to whine on. He'll be fully exposed.
I read that he's replaced him with Keith Nahigian, who managed Michelle Bachmann's 2012 campaign.
I suppose they picked Nahigian because he has experience trying to control the damage done by what whacky, conspiracy loving, candidate says in public? Doubt it will work any better this time around.
Maru Kitteh
(28,303 posts)nolabear
(41,915 posts)You can watch him speak and gauge the crowd response minute-by-minute. When people stop screaming he trots out a greatest hit and gets them screaming. He yells out call-and-response cues, insults an established target in spectacular bad-boy crude fashion, tells the crowd how wonderful both he and it are. If he has to read prepared statements or be a mouthpiece for policy positions, he'll lose interest in a heartbeat.
Cirque du So-What
(25,812 posts)tRump taking constructive criticism from anyone? I can't. A new campaign manager who acts as anything but a lickspittle sycophant will meet the same fate.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)With him tanking in the polls he will just get more defensive, angrier and weirder.
ancianita
(35,813 posts)Looks like Manafort is going to do for Trump what he did for Mobutu and other "clients."
spooky3
(34,303 posts)no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)They wanted Lewandowski gone like it was a reality version of the reality show "The Apprentice", only with security escorting him out. They KNOW their father. They KNOW he's not going to change. Mental disease is like that. My guess is that they're trying to save the Trump name for future business before everyone believes that Trump can't be trusted with any business deals.
Lord Magus
(1,999 posts)At least not for any length of time. tRump will always slip back into being batshit insane because that's just who he is.
Tarc
(10,472 posts)The faction that won includes his kids, and you know they will be all "yes dad, of course dad, whatever you say dad!", lest they have their trust funds turned off.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)But Trump is a narcissist. He won't be able to restrain himself.