The Republican has ruined a promising start
Barring a miracle, Donald Trump will lose the US presidential election. The way he has taken his campaign forward, has disillusioned the American voters. Though he has bolstered his support among the Trumpistas, he has lost the image befitting a President of the United State of America. His insurrectionary campaign, pointing fingers at the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's personal records, instead of offering policy prescriptions for making ‘America great again' will cost him dearly. After securing the party nomination, Trump should have been moulding his opinions sensing the multi-cultural fabric of the American society. As the election approached, he should have been more cautious and put forward balanced views on sensitive issues. Further, his incendiary remarks on Muslims, Mexicans, prisoners of war, a Hispanic judge, a gold star military family and a disabled journalist, have all torpedoed his hope of winning the presidential battle against Clinton. Further, Trump's attempt to demean and attack women in public could force a large constituency of voters to dump him in the coming election. Meanwhile, various opinion polls show that Clinton has taken a lead of 11 points over Trump. The past records in the history of American elections suggest that bridging such a huge gap is near-impossible for a candidate. But he is still not realising his mistakes. Simultaneously, Clinton was also not a very strong candidate to defeat a Republican nominee as she was popularly known as a ‘establishment’ person and a status quoist. Her stint as Secretary of State had its share of controversies, including her shifting stand on the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. This may be one of the rare election years where the Americans hardly have a real choice; they have to select between two average candidates for the White House. Compared to Barack Obama's candidature, Clinton doesn’t inspire either hope or change. As for Trump, the change he promised is one the Americans can do without.
The most damaging development for the Republican candidate is that many of Trump’s frontline party leaders are deserting him at this crucial moment. Denouncing the nominee of the own party by its stalwarts sends wrong signal to both the core constituency of the Republican base and to the floating voters. Starting from former President George W Bush to former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, current Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan — all have distanced themselves from Trump. His own running mate and vice presidential choice Mike Pence too has expressed dismay over Trump’s utterances. The Republicans appear to be heading for a remarkable loss after the initial euphoria of finding ways to box the Democrats into a corner. Ironically, the Republicans, who are now lamenting their fate, are the ones who helped Trump get the nomination, by denying it to better candidates in the race.