Donald Trump's message of political incorrectness further bruises his standing

At the Olympic Games in Rio, athletes are vying to own the podium. Meanwhile, to the north of Brazil, Republican Presidential candidate for the United States, Donald Trump, has taken full ownership of a campaign of odium. If there had been an Olympic competition in shooting off your mouth and shooting yourself in the foot, the Don would have been entirely on target. In the world of presidential politics, though, he finds himself with a bulls-eye painted on his back. As Hillary Clinton gave her acceptance speech in Philadelphia and the balloons came tumbling down, one that was rapidly burst was Trump’s brief lead in the polls. Since then, his numbers have cratered as he dug a big hole for himself. Trump may have cannily crafted his message on political incorrectness, but there’s a difference between that and behaving incorrectly in politics. Positioned as the anti-establishment candidate, fulminating on trade pacts that created America’s ‘Rust Belt’, where jobs were lost as manufacturing fled; or on Clinton’s foreign policy blunders as secretary of state or even against illegal immigration, has broad appeal. But each time his narrow-mindedness asserts itself, he drowns in his own bile. [caption id=“attachment_2933868” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Donald Trump. Reuters[/caption] Earlier this campaign season, Trump found his support dwindling as he attacked the judge hearing a case in California against Trump University, not over of the merits of the lawsuit but over the judge’s Hispanic background. He appears to have learnt nothing from that error, since his latest trough is linked directly to his viciousness against the parents of a Pakistani-American martyr of the Iraq war, simply because they dared to criticise him at the Democratic National Convention. Opposing the system is fine, even calling Hillary Clinton the “devil” or “monster” will only bruise his standing, but he’s been battered each time he has become personal. When Trump attacks the system, he bounces; when he attacks individuals, he flounders. As he does so, he tosses away issues that were gift-wrapped for him to open and exploit. For instance, terrible economic numbers even as Clinton vies for what is a third term of the Obama Administration. Or, with an offhand comment hoping Russian hackers would turn over Clinton’s cache of deleted emails to the FBI, he buttressed her campaign’s narrative that Moscow was enabling Trump. As the DNC ended, Trump told his supporters that he had been advised to refrain from directing his fire at the array of speakers that lambasted him on that stage. He was asked to focus on the target — Clinton. Instead, as in the past, he ignored such counsel and collapsed. Over the past few days, Trump’s bipolar campaign has taken another mood swing. At rallies, he’s adopting a gentler, more conciliatory tone, except when it comes to going after “Crooked Hillary”. On Monday, he gave an economic policy speech in Detroit, the Motor City that has found its status as an automobile capital of the world punctured and instead acquired that of an urban disaster zone. It was focused on policy rather than polemics. This, in times of financial anguish, needs to his unwavering theme. He also endorsed the re-election campaigns of Republican Senator (and former Presidential candidate) John McCain and Speaker of the US House of Representatives (and Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012) Paul Ryan. Trump, being Trump, though, could not resist a jibe at Somali refugees during an event in Maine. In another presidential cycle, Trump’s campaign would have been buried under his pile of trash-talking. The only reason he remains politically alive is that his rival is possibly the weakest candidate the Democrats could have nominated, with unfavourable numbers that achieve the unthinkable — nearly matching those of Trump. The majority of Trump’s speeches are extempore, and he boasts about not using a teleprompter. Recently, he has taken to using notes that he reads from, on economic data or victims of terrorism. That’s a slight move away from a campaign that has been unscripted, and an operation that is ad hoc. Getting back on message and staying there could be his slender opportunity to get to the White House. But given Trump’s temperament, another meltdown is imminent because that’s what the script so far suggests.