With three days to go and early voting underway in most states – completed in some -, it appears that the Trump campaign has doubled down their efforts to make their candidate the center of attention. That being the case, it has become even more noticeable that Trump has seemingly called back his surrogates, leaving the remaining groundwork to be laid by his speeches, alone. Even so, those of the GOP’s surrogates still left campaigning have resorted to the last possible resort: relying on conspiracy claims and questions of Hillary’s basic humanity/morality as the foundation of their rhetoric.

Hillary Clinton as the Antichrist?

Recently, Trump surrogate Roger Stone went on The Alex Jones Show, agreeing with and further fanning the flames of the conspiracist theory extraordinaire that Clinton might be “a Manchurian candidate programmed by somebody.”  The two men then went on to debate Clinton’s “multiple personalities,” fueling a discussion steeped deeply within the heaps of angry theories that have fed the hatred for Clinton that Trump supporters often relish in. As it stands, his surrogates seem to be continuing to to utilize the Challenger strategy of going on the offensive and attacking Clinton in any possible way.

False Equivalency

Another tactic frequently utilized by Trump surrogates is that of false equivalency – that is, equating Clinton’s emails, essentially, with the vast and growing lists of Trump’s misdemeanors. Though some might qualify this as an important and unwavering tactic of fiery Challenger rhetoric, it has begun to act as an example of yelling loud enough so that one’s point seems legitimate. It seems to have gone beyond typical communication strategies at this point, and simply verges on desperation – as in, let’s see how far we can deceive a population trained to be skeptical of every fact presented to them to the point where they will actually negate any and all clear and documented evidence if it stands to act against their “morals.”

Regardless of the Challenger strategies Trump’s remaining surrogates continue to use in these last couple of days, it remains to be seen just how much these strategies will effect the actual outcome of the election.

With Hillary Clinton’s campaign now relying heavily on help from heavy-weight surrogates by the likes of the Obamas and Joe Biden – doing their best to capitalize on the incumbent advantage -, it appears that Trump’s campaign is actually reeling in their surrogate outreach on a number of fronts, seemingly deploying Trump to lead his rallies with very little introduction. Due to the negative media attention recently arising from the GOP frontrunner’s surrogate’s appearances on a variety of news casts and talkshows, one might actually be inclined to believe that this is probably the best possible route his campaign can take at this point.

Trouble with Women Across the Board

Recently, former US Speaker of the House and avid Trump supporter/surrogate, Newt Gingrich, made headlines for getting into a now-viral argument with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly, claiming that she seemed “fascinated with sex” and didn’t “care about public policy.” In the wake of Gingrich’s statements, there has been a media storm decrying his statements, once again reinforcing the liberal media’s rhetoric on Trump’s campaign being very essentially anti-woman.

Though Trump and his higher-up campaign managers have since come out in support of Gingrich, praising his criticism of Kelly and defending his statements, many viewed this latest misstep by a Trump surrogate as yet another straw to contribute to the continual breakage of the camel’s back – should one actually be cognizant that the camel exists, mind you. However, should one be completely unaware of the existance of said camel, one might be able to interpret Trump’s defense of his surrogates as simply extending one of his most commonly-used Challenger strategies, taking an offensive position on the issues, to function as his campaign’s greatest – and, perhaps, only – consistency: an effectively unyielding offensive take on life demonstrating that he is, in fact, the most capable enforcer of political stuffs and things that the American public has available at the moment.

The Delicate Task of Deligation

Due to the fact that Trump has thusfar foregone the typical delegation of harsh attacks on his opponent and all those in her camp to surrogates, another common Challenger strategy, it will be interesting to see how he utilizes his remaining surrogates in the days leading up to the election. Because of the fact that they’ve seemed to do more harm than good throughout the course of this brutal election cycle, it may actually be smart for Trump to reel in his surrogates and simply stay the course on his own.

All of this simply remains to be seen in the coming days.

 

With November 8th just a couple of weeks out now, it has become more important than ever for both presidential campaigns to hone in on their strengths and focus on getting to the White House. That being the case, it has become increasingly crucial for the surrogate speakers of both candidates to really align their efforts and push through any media resistance to achieve their goals – which makes the fact that Trump’s surrogates seem to be single-handedly undermining any progress that the GOP candidate could’ve made over these past few days that much worse.

Doubling Down on Deflection

With the media now seemingly solely focused on the various scandals surrounding Trump’s growing list of blunders and sexual assault accusations, it has become a staple of his surrogates to deflect from the controversies in the attempt to steer the conversation back towards policy. However, with such glaring evidence existing in the form of audio clips and video footage working against their candidate, it only stands to make their case worse, making them seem either exceptionally un-empathetic towards the alleged victims of his various missteps or, in some cases, just extremely out of touch.

Legitimately Making It Worse

In addition to the amount of deflection Trump’s campaign has been engaging in as of late, there is also the fact that some interviews with his various surrogates end up making headlines for being the exact wrong thing to say. For example, this past week, Trump surrogate and former Republican Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, made news for claiming that Hispanics won’t be much of an obstacle for Trump in her state due to the fact that, “They don’t get out and vote.” With Trump’s numbers already dwindling with Hispanic voters, Brewer’s comments couldn’t have come at a less opportune time, and it will interesting to see whether or not this latest addition to the media frenzy will be enough to turn Arizona blue.

Preparing to Take a Loss

Though Trump’s surrogates may not be completely unified on all fronts, it seems as if they can all agree on one thing: the vast and all-compassing corruption of our political system that has led to the mass rigging of the polls – in some cases, before they are even set up. In any case, it would appear that the Republican candidate’s surrogates will continue to support his claims that the election process has been set up to work against him – of only to soften the blow of their seemingly inevitable loss in the coming days.

With Hillary Clinton currently leading in most polls across the U.S., it is safe to say that the Trump campaign is scrambling to make these last days leading up to the election count. That being the case, the role of Trump’s surrogates has become even more crucial than ever if the Republican candidate still hopes to have a chance at the White House. With his surrogates now up in arms and fiercely defending their candidate’s statements and actions in every possible way, it will be interesting to see how the rest of October plays out for Mr. Trump.

Desperate Strategies

As it stands, it would appear that Trump’s surrogates are determined to defend their candidate’s actions in the wake of the multitude of controversies he is now involved in, taking a defensive and deflective form of apologia to a whole new level.  A recurring strategy in recent days has been for surrogates to attempt to re-direct the conversation to issues that “matter,” citing their desire to discuss policy as their main reason for doing so. However, it is increasingly unclear which issues said surrogates are desiring to talk about, as it has never quite been made clear by the Republican front-runner what actions he will actually take once in office – besides “looking into it,” of course.

Prepping for a Loss?

Recently, Trump surrogates – as well as the man, himself – have been quoted more and more as saying the election will be “rigged,” claiming that the media and the establishment, itself, are conspiring against the Republican candidate and will ensure that he loses no matter what. In addition to planting such seeds across various social media outlets, Trump’s surrogates have also gone on more mainstream talk shows, such as NBC’s “The Today Show,” echoing their candidate’s claims and emphasizing the needs for more “monitored” polling and voting sites.

It Remains to be Seen…

Though these new tactics are exceptionally interesting to analyze from a rhetorical standpoint and the twist they’ve put on certain traditional techniques, it remains to be seen how all of these changes will affect the overall election come November 8th. If Trump has anything to say about it, though, he and his surrogates will continue to extend their brand of unapologetic and inflammatory rhetoric to the mass public, allowing voters to make of it what they may – while simultaneously decrying the very system that he seeks to become a part of.

An October Surprise for the Books

With the release of the 2005 video in which Donald Trump boasts about his sexually predatory behavior towards women, it seems as if an insurmountable obstacle has now planted itself right in the path of the GOP candidate’s journey to the presidency. In the wake of the media frenzy this deadly October surprise has created, it seems only fitting that Trump would send his army of female surrogates to speak on his behalf – which, depending on what side of the political spectrum you are on, may have actually made the issue worse.

Damage Control or Damage Done?

One of Trump’s more well-known surrogates, Scottie Nell Hughes, made the media rounds in the attempt to salvage her candidate’s reputation with women. What resulted from that, however, was a series of viral news clips in which Hughes ended up on the chopping block by fellow Republicans that not only labelled Hughes a “reality-denier,” but also added to the long list of reasons why Trump is not the candidate for women.

(Hughes, bottom left.)

A New Set of Problems

In addition to the most obvious maelstrom his surrogates have been left to clean up after, another issue has arisen as a directly-paralleled result of Trump’s comments – one that even his spokeswomen have no hope of combating at this point: the surfacing of women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Trump. Not only is Trump dealing with the aftermath of his words – a task which has, apparently, fallen into the laps of his more well-spoken surrogates (as it probably should) -, but he must now also face the consequences of an accumulation of years-worth of predatory and inexcusable behaviors toward women.  The fact that his surrogates – Hughes, in particular – are trying to pass his words and behaviors off as “locker room talk” or “nothing we haven’t seen before” has simply added to the inflammatory rhetoric now slamming Trump’s campaign.

It will certainly be interesting to see how Trump’s latest – and, perhaps, most fatal – blunder will factor into his performance in tonight’s presidential debate on CNN. Only one thing is for certain now, though: Trump’s surrogates will have their work cut out for them every minute of every day leading up to the election – and, perhaps, for many years to come.

 

 

 

While most major media outlets sit back on their haunches and wait for the symbolic “other shoe to drop” in the wake of Donald Trump’s latest verbal blunder, his surrogates lean forward practically foaming at the mouth with the fine new prospects presented to them: they’ve finally been given a new angle to work. With each bombshell Trump drops into the melee of this election cycle’s political storm, his surrogates are given the opportunity to embark on an exercise of creativity – the task of turning their candidate’s inflammatory rhetoric into a proclamation of genius which, in and of itself, is actually quite ingenious in terms of its manipulative stratagem.

A New Form of Apologia

Though some might consider this strategy to be verging on desperate at times, it seems to stand as a refreshing new take on what would normally be considered apologia in the face of a mishap or questionable statement. Instead of issuing formal apologies or even attempting to deny what has been said – though Trump does this fairly often when he, himself, is speaking in a public forum –, his surrogates simply use his multitude of missteps as an opportunity to appear on major news networks or talk shows and unpack Trump’s statements in ways that leave viewers confused though, admittedly, somewhat impressed. They often point out unheard-of loopholes in policy that Trump has managed to get around or dig up old skeletons from the closets of those who have publicly challenged the Republican candidate, using the challengers’ proverbial demons as a means to delegitimize whatever accusations they’ve brought up.

Speak for Yourself

A prime example of this is statements made by Rudy Giuliani this morning on ABC News. The former Mayor of New York spoke to George Stephanopoulos about the mogul’s 1995 property tax returns published by the New York Times on Saturday morning. Though the published report is somewhat incriminating, Giuliani provided a very different take on the issue, saying, “He’s (Trump) a genius. Absolute genius… This is a perfectly legal application of the tax code. And he would’ve been a fool not to take advantage of it.”

Whether they are defending Trump’s defamatory statements regarding a former Miss America pageant or his affinity for delaying the release of his tax returns, it is clear that his surrogates are determined to work whatever angle they are given – which, it would appear, may be their only viable option at this point.