Trumping Along

Trump, with the election approaching, has managed to lay lower after the initial October surprises that gripped the media for most of the past few weeks. Now the attention has been shifted to the Clinton Foundation with all of the Wikileaks that have been released. Trump’s campaign has used this as the perfect opportunity to shift the attention from Trump’s mistakes to Hillary’s, even though the stamp of what was released is not something that can really be erased. His daughter in law, Laura Trump, has been at the forefront in supporting Donald Trump and trying to combat all of the so called “false narratives” and trying to discredit Hillary.

With the end of the election coming, Laura Trump has tried to sway the female audience as she speaks out against Hillary in an interview with Breitbart News, stating that Hillary does not represent the women in this country and that it is a shame that she is the first woman presidential nominee to represent our country. Trump’s campaign is surely using this line of fire as a way to discredit Hillary on one of her biggest strength’s in this election, gender. Laura is trying to appeal to the female audience by stating that, “we are smart enough to not vote solely based on someone’s gender,” implying that that is the only reason to really vote for Hillary.

Overall, Trump has tried to appeal to the female population as much as possible in light of all of the events that came into play in October. This is exactly what his focus should have been on because he greatly needed more support of women voters, specifically white, middle class suburban women, whom Laura Trump tried to target in her interview. However, I don’t think Trump’s campaign held enough women supporters with strong influence and persuasion to promptly sway this particular crowd. I think in the election tomorrow there will be a strong female support of Hillary because of all of the events that took place in October, and because of Donald’s lack of ability to strongly reach these female voters.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3866934/We-ve-got-stuff-sleeve-Donald-Trump-s-daughter-law-hints-Republican-nominee-October-surprise-drop-Hillary-Clinton.html

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/07/exclusive-lara-trump-hillary-clinton-doesnt-represent-most-if-any-women-in-this-country/

Pushing the Envelope

Constantly Challenging the Social Norm:

Trump’s political campaign this election has forever changed the face of politics when it comes to what is standard and what is acceptable. His campaign has pushed the envelope in many different ways, but even more so with his surrogate speakers. A surrogate speaker in past times would be used as an avenue for saying things that were typically not acceptable for the presidential candidate to say. While taking that into consideration, there is still a part those speakers played in trying to maintain that candidates image. Their purpose is to support and enhance their candidates image. When it comes to Trump’s surrogate speakers however, there has been very little spoken in moderation and little put into self preservation. They have been extremely vocal about their thoughts and opinions and have done very little to hold back.

For example, recently when Donald Trump spoke at a rally, one of the rally speakers, Wayne Root appeared first and spoke about Hillary Clinton and how she should be put in the firing lane for committing treason. Even in elections past, you would not hear a surrogate speaker openly talk about how he thinks a candidate should be killed for committing treason. Trump and his speakers have constantly challenged the social norm of politics through stating things so off the wall that people don’t know how to respond.

Overall, Trump’s campaign strategy has drastically impacted the political world. He is not a typical politician nor has he conducted himself as one. His surrogate speakers, as a result, have followed in his footsteps. They have been bolder and more outspoken and gotten away with it because they are a part of Trump’s campaign. Overall, I think Trump’s boldness and political incorrectness, regardless of the outcome of this election will impact election campaigns to come and what our view of normal is when it comes to politics. He has held a campaign unlike any other and it will not go without impact in the political world. It has caused candidates to be pushed to have a more radical position in politics and has very little gray area.

Sources:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/trump-rally-speaker-imagines-hillary-clintons-death.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/20/donald-trump-s-thugs-execute-hillary-clinton-for-treason.html

Under Pressure

Trump’s family:

Throughout Trump’s campaign, the support of his family has been an important factor. In many ways, his family has seemed to be highlighted and focused on more than any other in campaigns past. This has not been without reason. Trump’s campaign has focused a lot on him being relatable and always being transparent. He doesn’t sugar coat his words with political speech or beat around the bush. His children, in the same way, were not trained for politics and have had to depend on their own strengths and abilities to support Trump. This has given Trump and edge over Hillary, who has repeatedly struggled to gain America’s trust and appear transparent.

Hillary’s response:

As a result, Hillary’s campaign has strategically done what any campaign should, used their opponents biggest strength as their biggest weakness. Trump’s family, specifically Ivanka has been one of the biggest components of his campaign. His family has complimented his anti-political campaign by giving Trump the necessary support he has needed. Because of Trump’s campaign focusing so much on getting rid of political correctness, many Republican’s are not as vocal for endorsing Trump, making his family’s support vital. As a result, Hillary’s campaign has constantly attacked Trump and his family in order to disqualify Trump and his family’s character and also, indirectly keep the focus off of Hillary and her own mistakes. This has given Hillary copious amounts of time to prepare and appear presidential, while the media continues to paint Trump and his family as unqualified.

What you can expect to see:

Conclusively, over these next few weeks you can expect Hillary’s campaign to continuously try to disqualify Trump and his family by promoting negative characteristics about Trump and critiquing every comment his family makes in response. His family as a result will have to tread carefully and be very precise with what comments they choose to make. They need to address some of the issues, and then move on. Hillary’s campaign is wanting the public to remain focused on Trump’s past actions leading up to the election. Trump’s family could play a part in shifting that focus to other parts of Trump’s campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-crude/

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-19/trump-s-family-keeps-low-profile-in-home-stretch-of-campaign

“Boy Talk”

The political world has continued to turn nasty as the coming election draws near. With just a few weeks left, both campaigns are fighting to draw every last vote that they can. On Hillary’s side we have Michelle Obama speaking out about sexual assault, hyping on Trump’s derogatory comments made against women, while Trump’s campaign continues to try to diminish the affects of his words from years passed. By Donald Trump’s side, there is Melania Trump, who outside of the past couple of weeks, has been quiet for most of his campaign. Now she is using the recent events as a platform to continue to try to convince voters of Trump as an “innocent man”.

Melania Trump, in a televised interview by Anderson Cooper from CNN, stated that Trump was led into “boy talk” and that he was simply egged on to say “dirty and bad things”. She then further supported this statement by saying that she knows this to be true because the comments made were not a true reflection of the Donald Trump she knows. Trump’s campaign is again using Melania as a source of female support in his campaign in order to appeal to the female voters, but much more than that, also trying to maintain the voters he already has by convincing them that he is in fact the Trump he appears to be, not what has been released over the past couple of weeks. Her use of the words “boy talk” was very much so a strategic rhetorical strategy trying to downplay the gravity of what was said, but also appealing to the male audience. That simple statement in and of itself largely dismissed the claims that have been brought against him over previous weeks.

Over the next couple of weeks it will be interesting to see what each campaign chooses to focus their attention on. Hillary’s campaign has done a good job of continuously bringing up Trump’s past and if they are smart, they will continue to try to dig up what they can find to present to the public. However, this is only going to go so far with the Trump audience. They need to target voters who are still undecided. As for the Trump campaign, they may want to consider a different approach rather than just being dismissive.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/melania-trump-interview/index.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/17/melania-trump-interview-cnn/92315100/

Melania’s “call out” of Trump

The Problem

A lot has happened for Donald Trump in the past week, which is to be expected by now with his campaign. He has been on blast by the media for his continuously crude and vulgar comments towards women. The hot mic situation regarding old tape recordings of Trump speaking in a very derogatory way has captured the full attention of the media. These recordings have in some ways seemed to be brushed off by Trump as “locker room talk,” as reported by the New York Times. Hillary’s campaign has done a great job of trying to highlight his comments and appeal to the female audience by representing Trump as a sexist individual who does not have respect for women. In many ways, Trump’s platform to reach women voters has only continued to diminish, which is vital for Hillary in this election. Hillary needs to capture the female vote and they have done an extremely good job of trying to make sure that happens. In return, Trump’s campaign has needed deal with the situation, and has used a few different avenues, such as Trump’s wife to do so.

How Melania has helped:

Melania released a statement following the exposure of the recordings denouncing Trump’s statements as “unacceptable and offensive,” but also stating that he has the heart and mind of a leader and that she has accepted his apology and encouraged others to do the same. (USA Today) This was the first time Melania has really spoken out since her own mistakes at the Republican convention. She used her platform to denounce Trump’s behavior, which was very necessary for someone, particularly a woman, to do for Trumps campaign. Trump’s campaign needed to have a female voice that was in support of Trump and one that would carry some weight. By using his wife, it gave them a lot of publicity since she is a popular figure in this election, and also gave him the support of a female voice in his campaign. Which is important to portray as the election approaches.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/08/melania-trump-urges-america-forgive-trump-vulgar-comments/91791400/

Trump’s Surrogate Political Spouse

Daughter or First Lady?

Ivanka Trump has played a unique and vital role throughout the course of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Since the start of his campaign, Ivanka has been a figure who has been front and center and heavily depended on by Trump. She has often been portrayed as level-headed and in many cases, the voice of reason when Trump tends to have one of his political outbursts. In several ways, Ivanka has been the female figure in Trump’s life that has stood out. With two divorces under his belt and being on his third marriage to Melania, who is not well versed in politics, Ivanka has been a dominating character who Trump continues to depend on to draw public support. Her role has continuously mirrored that of the typical first lady candidate and Trump has done nothing but encourage the media to focus on her. He has used her to speak on political matters, promote his campaign through social media, and headline different campaign ads like televised commercials. Meanwhile, little to no attention has been focused on Melania, except for when she was caught plagiarizing her a speech at the Republican National Convention. Since that mistake, Trump’s campaign has fought even more to hide Melania and focus their attention on Ivanka as a competent and reliable female figure in Trump’s inner circle. This has been extremely vital for Trump who has often come across as sexist and as someone who does not respect women.

Has Ivanka’s role hurt his campaign?

In some ways, Trumps heavy dependency on Ivanka has called into question the type of relationship they have. This was further called into question when he made an inappropriate remark to Rolling Stones in 2015 stating, “Yeah, she’s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father …” This creepy remark, and others have made it easy for Hillary’s campaign to paint their relationship in a negative light and use one of Trump’s greatest strengths as his weakness. It was an easy way for them to question Trump’s character. Overall however, Trump needs Ivanka in order to appeal to a female audience he otherwise would be unable to reach. His audience needs to know he has a solid female voice in his group who will be present during his presidency and Ivanka fits that role.

Sources:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/trump-seriously-20150909

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-convention-stumble-melania-trump-has-largely-vanished-from-campaign/2016/09/08/c887d576-6bab-11e6-8225-fbb8a6fc65bc_story.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-campaign-releases-general-election-ad-featuring-ivanka/story?id=42483585