Along with that title from his latest article, here's some wisdom from Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jay Bookman about where the Donald Trump campaign is right now. He says that Trump built his entire primary campaign on the ugly, harsh rhetoric about illegal immigrants:
"But these days, facing a general election, that ugliness is less
useful to him. . . . He underestimated the basic decency of
the American people, and the polls tell us that he’s paying a heavy
price for that mistake. So what we’re witnessing now is a cynical
attempt to back away from many of the ugly things that he has said and
done over the past year, to project a more humane image. The problem is
that once these things are seen, they cannot be unseen. We know who he
is, because he has shown us."
Bookman wrote that before Trump's Wednesday night speech on immigration, where he tripled down on the harshness, although with a more detailed plan for dealing with "the illegals." But it doesn't really matter that the "makeover" is unconvincing, because in his speech Trump abandoned it anyway.
Forget the Hispanic vote; they're gone. What this is all about is trying to hold his base and, at the same time, attract more moderate voters. But I don't think that's possible. Every time he swings to the angry ugly side, as he did in his Wednesday night speech, he loses more of the moderate vote.
All you really need to know about the speech is that David Duke and other White Supremacists were delighted. Their radio talk shows and social media were celebrating.
Ralph
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