It’s really hard to describe just how far the Trump campaign is running off of the rails in the last 32 days of the campaign for the presidency. A political campaign is no different than any other kind of team, including sports teams, an efficient one requires instant and immediate communication, and a sense of stability, and never has there been less of either than in the Trump campaign right now.
I played hockey for more than 20 years, so I’ll use that for this analogy. Like all team sports, hockey success is built on instant communication. Players on the bench between shifts regularly yell to each other over the noise about their assignments, and adjustments based on what the opponent is doing. But it is the coaches, who look at the game from 30,000 feet, know all and see all, who communicate the greater strategy to everybody on the bench to assure eventual success.
Because there are no longer any functional coaches left on the Trump bench. Let’s start with the head coach. Obviously that would be Trump. Trump is infamous as the ultimate micro manager of everything that goes on around him, whether in the campaign, or within the Trump organization.
And Trump is now incommunicado. True, Trump can still communicate from the hospital with aides and campaign staff, but only over the phone, or through video conferencing. But effective management requires immediate decisions made in the game itself, and that is now impossible. Remember, Trump is his own best messenger, and his ability to convey his message is now throttled. Especially since his message was that the thing that has now sidelined him was a nothing burger in the first place.
But it isn’t just Trump. The dude that I like to sarcastically refer to as “King Tut,” Brad Parscale, is now gone. Say what you will about Parscale and his avaricious nature, he is a major loss. Signing on early with the Trump campaign in 2016, he basically built from scratch the Trump digital media juggernaut. It was Parscale who built the collection and dissemination processes, and Parscale who horse traded and communicated back and forth with Cambridge Analytica in 2016 to micro target specific districts, and even precincts.
And now, thanks to the Biden campaign according to FUX News, Parscale is gone, And while the people that Parscale brought in and trained, and mentored are still in place. the genius of the project was Parscale’s. And while the rest of the crew may be familiar with his system, what they don’t have is his vision of how to bring it all together. The digital media arm of the Trump campaign will continue to function, but it won’t be anywhere near as effective. It is now basically a rudderless ship.
Which brings us to the third jewel in the Trump reelection triple crown. Former Chris Christie crony Bill Stepian, of “Bridgegate” fame, was brought on to be Parscale’s replacement as the campaign manager. And lo and behold, he tested positive today for the coronavirus. Stepian was brought on to try as much as possible to “normalize” the campaign, and to fine tune the messaging. But now, much like Trump. he is deprived of being to sit in a centralized place, with minions gathered all around him, and instantly issue communications on how to respond to the real time action on the ice. political campaigns are no different from hockey games, game time requires immediate communications. And he no longer has that capability.
The wheels have fallen off of the Trump Train. At the very moment that the campaign requires instantaneous action and response from its top leaders, none of them are capable of providing it. And by the time that they get back into the action again, it will likely be far too late. Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at #RealMurfster35
Where’s Pence? We have’t been told whether he tests positive or negative, and it’s been 24 hours now. Am I wrong? Don’t you think this is a suspicious omission?
Yes.
There’s a good reason why they may be keeping mum about Pence’s status (and there has been more than enough time to test him by now). By denying or hiding a positive status for Pence, Pence can assume Presidential powers if need arises. Not to empower Pelosi is probably their #1 goal right now. Nothing could be worse for Trump right now. Well, unless he dies of the virus, and Pelosi’s ascension to power might just finish him off.
I googled, and The Washington Post has reported that Pence has tested negative “according to a spokesperson”. Where has the WH made an official press release? Can’t find that. You’d think they’d release an official statement by now, to assure us that Pence is healthy and can assume powers if necessary.
Given the incubation period of COVID, that negative test means zero right now. Saw a pic on Twitter with the folks who tested positive while they were at the Notre Dame event. The Pences were in the dead center of ALL of them. So he’s either lying or it’s just going to take a few more days.
NOW do you understand why I have never been afraid of these people? I knew in my heart that this was what would get them.
He has never had a lead in this race. This failure of the supposed most powerful man in the world to stay healthy is an obvious failure of Trump and the GOP. He is done. The only way he can maybe change his poll numbers is to die and his dead ass gets sympathy from poll respondents.
Even that way is dubious, Blue. I keep getting the sense that he’s going to get the Pharoah treatment, every trace erased from the public square once he’s gone.
And maybe not that – some people who supported him are changing their minds now, because clearly he was wrong about the virus.
To be honest, this is par for the course in trump world. He went from lewendowski to manafort to Bannon. It was always chaos. Somehow that worked in 2016.
Only because he had enough enablers. Now said enablers are AWOL, infected or busted.
Ok, so all of this is heck on a hand basket to live through…but imagine the plays and films five hundred years from now! The grifter president who mocks god by denying science, and then in the height of a campaign is struck down by his own arrogance.
It’s downright Shakespearean, it is.
I HAVE been calling this Stupid Macbeth.
Greek tragedy of hubris.
Parscale was no genius, just a data weasel with an inside line to Cambridge Analytica and troll farms. Even before his recent demotion, Trump was already losing by seven to eight points since the spring. And that’s as much his fault as his boss’.
I have no sympathy for any of them. It is their own fault for not following the guidelines of wearing masks and of social distancing. If they had we wouldn’t have all these positive cases…now it’s Chris Christie who tested positive.
What makes me particularly upset is that now all these people will burden the healthcare system and demand that they get top-notch care.
They’re not enough to burden most healthcare systems. It’s when you get thousands or tens of thousands needing care all at once.
That’s not what I meant by “burden”. I meant the doctors and nurses will have to treat them when there are others who they could be helping. And the healthcare workers will have to risk their lives treating these people who didn’t have to get the virus if they had been careful.
Murph! Consider this an OFFICIAL invitation. Jan/Feb 2022, presumably when COVID is far in the rear-view mirror, you are invited to Montreal for politics and hockey. I had no idea you were another one of me. An old fart who loves hockey! We can talk politics and pass the puck around on either of the two mechanically frozen rinks within a km of my house. That sounds like a great time. But dress warm. It doesn’t happen a lot anymore, but it can still get down below -30 at times here in winters. But don’t worry. 10 minutes passing the puck up and down the ice and -30 will feel like 80 degrees. You’ll be all good, my American friend. 🙂