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Donald Trump's strange campaign gets stranger
| CNN | - |
Washington
(CNN) Donald Trump is testing just how far he can push his
unconventional campaign without wrecking it. The Republican nominee
shattered traditional political boundaries Tuesday when he told The
Washington Post he isn't backing House ...
Donald Trump's strange campaign gets stranger
Story highlights
- Tuesday marked a bizarre day on the campaign trail for Trump
- Trump is under the most severe bipartisan fire of his campaign
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump is testing just how far he can push his unconventional campaign without wrecking it.
The Republican nominee shattered traditional political boundaries Tuesday when he told The Washington Post he
isn't backing House Speaker Paul Ryan or Sen. John McCain as they face
primary challenges. The two leading Republicans seemingly angered Trump
with their denunciation of his criticism of the family of a slain Muslim
US soldier.
Trump's
comments -- delivered to a newspaper he's banned from attending his
events since mid-June -- capped a bizarre day on the campaign trail that
also included asking for a crying baby to be removed from a rally and
causing a stir over Purple Heart recipients.
In his interview with the Post, Trump criticized Ryan, saying, "We need very strong leadership."
"We need very, very strong leadership," Trump said. "And I'm just not quite there yet. I'm not quite there yet."
Trump's
phrasing -- "I'm not quite there yet" -- echoes comments Ryan made to
CNN's Jake Tapper in May when he said he wasn't yet ready to back his
party's standard-bearer. Zach Roday, a Ryan campaign spokesman, said the
speaker hasn't asked for Trump's endorsement and is "confident in a
victory next week regardless."
A
source close to Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus
told CNN he was incredibly upset with Trump for refusing to endorse Ryan
in his primary.
This source noted
that for Priebus it is "personal" because he and Ryan -- both from
Wisconsin -- are as close as family and Priebus was the chairman of
Ryan's first congressional race.
"He takes this very personally," said the source, especially since "he has taken on a lot of water" for Trump.
Paul Ryan's CNN interview with Jake Tapper (Part 1) 09:36
Trump's
comments come as he is under the most severe bipartisan fire of his
campaign following his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son
Humayun Khan, died in Iraq in 2004. The Khans delivered one of the most
powerful appearances at last week's Democratic National Convention,
where Khizr said Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one."
Trump's response
Trump
responded by criticizing Ghazala Khan's silence, suggesting she wasn't
allowed to speak because of her religion and saying he made plenty of
sacrifices for his business.
The
Republican nominee has struggled to recover from the episode as easily
as he has from previous controversies. A knowledgeable GOP source told
CNN some of Trump's campaign staff -- even campaign chairman Paul
Manafort -- are incredibly frustrated with the candidate. Some staffers
"feel like they are wasting their time" because Trump has veered off
message so much since the Democratic convention.
Trump spokesman Jason
Miller rejected suggestions that Manafort is "mailing it in" as
"completely erroneous." The campaign "just finished up our strongest
month of fundraising to date, we're adding talented and experienced
staffers on a daily basis and Mr. Trump's turning out bigger, more
enthusiastic crowds than Hillary Clinton ever could."
Still, Trump's challenge became clear in a series of strange moments Tuesday.
At a rally in family-friendly suburban Northern Virginia, Trump reversed the stereotype of baby-kissing politicians when he called for a wailing infant to be ejected
-- spurring laughter after initially saying how much he loved babies.
He also caused a stir when a military veteran gave Trump a Purple Heart,
prompting Trump to say he "always wanted a Purple Heart" and this was "much easier" than serving in combat.
As the rally unfolded, President Barack Obama spoke from the White House, calling Trump "unfit for the presidency."
Obama: Trump 'woefully unprepared' to be president 02:58
"The
notion that he would attack a Gold Star family that made such
extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country, the fact that he
doesn't appear to have basic knowledge of critical issues in Europe, the
Middle East, in Asia, means that he's woefully unprepared to do this
job," Obama said.
In an interview with Washington's WJLA-TV, Trump said it's Obama who is "unfit" for the Oval Office.
"He's
a terrible president," Trump said. "He'll probably go down as the worst
president in the history of our country. He's been a total disaster."
And
as much of the political world looks on in horror, Trump's supporters
remain loyal, cheering him on at Tuesday's rally in Ashburn, Virginia.
Alienation from the party
But his alienation from the rest of the party establishment only seemed to grow.
Maria Comella, a longtime aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, told CNN's Jamie Gangel Tuesday she plans to vote for Hillary Clinton, saying Republicans are "at a moment where silence isn't an option."
"Donald
Trump has been a demagogue this whole time, preying on people's
anxieties with loose information and salacious rhetoric, drumming up
fear and hatred of the 'other,'" Comella said.
"Instead
of trying anything remotely like unifying the country, we have a
nominee who would rather pick fights because he views it as positive
news coverage," she said. "It may make him media savvy, but it doesn't
make him qualified or ready to be president."
Meg Whitman, the Hewlett Packard chief executive who ran in 2010 for governor of California as a Republican, also said Tuesday she would support Clinton.
In
a statement, she blasted Trump's "demagoguery" and said his positions
on immigration, the economy and foreign policy "have made it abundantly
clear that he lacks both the policy depth and sound judgment required as
President."
"It is clear to me
that Secretary Clinton's temperament, global experience and commitment
to America's bedrock national values make her the far better choice in
2016 for President of the United States," she said. "I urge all
Republicans to reject Donald Trump this November."
The New York Times first reported Whitman's decision Tuesday.
The comments follow Sally Bradshaw, a senior Jeb Bush advisor, who told Gangel Monday she had quit the party and would vote for Clinton if Florida was close.
"This
is a time when country has to take priority over political parties.
Donald Trump cannot be elected president," Bradshaw said.
Meanwhile, New York Rep. Richard Hanna announced he will vote for Clinton in an editorial on Syracuse.com, saying Trump is "deeply flawed in endless ways."
Hanna
is not running for re-election so he has less at stake than other
Republicans. But he's not the only Republican moving away from Trump.
Top
party leaders including Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
are feeling the pressure. Though they have criticized Trump's feud with
the soldier's family, they have yet to walk back tepid endorsements of
Trump.
McCain went further than virtually any of his colleagues in a statement on Monday.
"While
our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied
by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," McCain
said. "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's
statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not
represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or
candidates."
But even the Arizona
senator, facing a re-election race in which he needs both pro-Trump and
anti-Trump voters, did not explicitly call on Republicans to dump their
nominee.
That point could yet come, should Clinton's seven-point convention bounce solidify into a sustained polling lead.
Obama to GOP: Why are you still endorsing Trump? 01:39
During
his news conference, Obama expanded on an emerging Democratic strategy
to convince die-hard Republicans not to put a cross next to Trump's name
in November, even if they vote the rest of the GOP ticket.
'Why are you still endorsing him?'
"If
you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has
said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?" Obama asked.
"This isn't a situation where you have an episodic gaffe."
He
went on: "There has to be a point in which you say this is not somebody
I can support for president of the United States, even if he purports
to be a member of my party. ...There has to come a point at which you
say enough."
In
another example of a scattershot campaign, Trump's son, Eric, was drawn
into a discussion about workplace behavior following the resignation of
Fox News chief Roger Ailes over sexual harassment allegations.
He told CBS' Charlie Rose that said his sister Ivanka was "strong" and "powerful" and would never allow herself to be sexually harassed by her boss
The comment drew a one-word tweet from Fox News host Megyn Kelly: "Sigh."
Still despite the gathering chaos around Trump, lingering questions still surround his campaign and those who criticize him.
He
is so unorthodox that it is sometimes tough for those caught up in the
maelstrom to judge what is happening against a credible political scale.
His antics often beg the question of whether Trump has so skewed
campaign logic that he has tapped into a connection with voters that
normal politicians don't even recognize. That makes it far too early to
write him off.
But equally, it's
possible America is currently watching the meltdown of the billionaire's
campaign. Perhaps the most unorthodox, unpredictable candidate ever has
hit limits of political convention that even he can't trump?
American political sages are not alone in trying to figure out the riotous election -- the world is watching too.
Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was cast in the role of puzzled
foreigner as he stood alongside Obama in the White House.
Lee
noted that often, after volatile election campaigns, a cooler
atmosphere prevails and the ship of state "does not turn completely
upside down" and putting his faith in the system of checks and balances.
"It is not so easy to do things, but it is not so easy to completely mess things up," he said.
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