In seven months, Americans will head to the polls to choose the next president. In football terms, it’s still early in the first quarter.
But it’s not too soon to call a timeout on the Republican side and have a talk about how we’re playing the game, because it doesn’t look good right now.
Polls show President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in a dead heat. But the Trump campaign and the GOP are making some baffling strategic decisions that could squander any advantages and hurt candidates down the ballot.
Trump has overhauled the Republican National Committee’s leadership, naming his inexperienced daughter-in-law co-chair and forcing key staffers to reapply for their jobs when they should be focused on work. Fundraising is withering, as Republicans have drained small donors and Trump has focused on his mounting legal fees. Instead of pivoting to woo swing voters, the campaign is doubling down on red meat.
In its fealty to Trump and his supporters, the once-great Republican Party has forgotten how to win elections.
So, how can it turn things around?
First, the party of fiscal responsibility needs to apply that principle to the hard-earned money given by its small donors.
Rather than spending money on putting Trump back in the Oval Office, the party is spending donor dollars to keep him out of the prison yard.
Not only has the Republican National Committee fallen woefully behind its fundraising totals from this point in the last presidential campaign, but Trump’s newly installed acolytes have worked out a deal to help pay for Trump’s legal fees. Rather than spending money on putting Trump back in the Oval Office, the party is spending donor dollars to keep him out of the prison yard.
But with Trump’s name at the top of the ticket, it’s no surprise that these funds are being used to benefit him personally, as he’s not known for being careful with campaign donations. During the 2020 campaign, Trump and the Republican Party returned more than $12…
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