Donald Trump has shown a mastery of bravado, spin, and radical changes of direction thus far in the 2016 bid for the GOP nomination. Along the way, he’s managed to build up a loyal base of supporters.
But now that the race is down to three, Donald needs to expand his base within the Republican party if he wants to have any shot at getting 1,237 delegates on the first ballot.
Our executive editor Fred Barnes writes about this very topic today in the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:
Attracting conservatives won’t be easy. Many are fiercely opposed to Mr. Trump, some to the point of declaring that they wouldn’t vote for him under any circumstances. And with the GOP convention only three months away, it is awfully late to begin pursuing the GOP’s most important bloc of voters after having largely ignored them. Nor is Mr. Trump up to speed on conservative politics. Before the recent Wisconsin primary, he relentlessly attacked Scott Walker, the state’s Republican governor, who had endorsed Ted Cruz. Mr. Walker was an early dropout from the presidential race, and thus a “loser” in Mr. Trump’s mind. But Mr. Walker is enormously popular in his home state, and assailing him backfired on Mr. Trump, who lost the primary.There are other problems. As the longtime conservative political analyst Michael Barone has observed, “Trump speaks conservatism as a second language he hasn’t bothered to master.” The candidate may have felt he would score points with the pro-life movement with his recent advocacy of punishment for women who have abortions. He was wrong and had to reverse his position publicly. Mr. Trump’s political instincts haven’t helped him with conservatives. He decides day-to-day what to say and frequently speaks off the cuff. He is often rash and undisciplined. His conservative detractors, especially those in policy and media circles, are appalled. To bring stability to his campaign, Mr. Trump now plans a series of formal speeches on policy issues, set pieces drafted by speechwriters and delivered from prepared texts. This assumes Mr. Trump follows through with the speeches. Avoiding distractions may result from the recent hiring of a professional campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
His conclusion? “The overtures to conservatives are crucial to the Trump campaign. His “pivot” will have to be genuine, his speeches credible. It’s all up to the unpredictable Mr. Trump.”
Read the whole thing here.
