Name:   copperline - Subject:   The Trump flame-out Date:   6/20/2016 11:37:40 AM

It looks like we are beginning to see the end of Trump, or at least a change in the arc of his success.  He looks like he is at a crucial tipping point and will now start a more pronounced decline in public support.  

It appears to me that his over-confidence in the magnitude of his support has led him to think he does not need the cooperation of the Republican Party, nor it’s donor network.  He hasn’t developed an internal fund raising staff and clearly thought that he could command the entire GOP to put all their resources at his bidding after the primaries.  He has always been extremely over-confident, but what we see now is that he is also uninterested in forming the cooperative political relationships that are critical to leading his own party, much less an entire government.   He has based his campaign on his belief that he is the greatest, most loved and revered candidate in generations… a huge over-estimation of his status in the eyes of the American public.

At present, the Trump campaign reports they have about $2.5 million in cash on hand.   This weekend, a fund-raising effort announced they had a need of $100,000 in ‘emergency funding’.   I believe I read that at this time in 2012, Romney had closer to $100 million in his own campaign account, and this did not including the deep pockets of the GOP itself.  In the end, Romney & the GOP combined had spent $1.24 billion.

Here’s a thought.   Democrats have opposed the Citizen’s United ruling because it created a vast increase in the funding dollars needed to elect a President.   We opposed it because we thought it simply promote the ultra-rich class as our political leaders, and decrease the number of ‘other people’ who should also run for office.  Ironic as it is, I wonder if the Trump fiasco will make everyone reconsider whether unlimited campaign spending is really a good idea.     For instance, if campaign spending was more limited… Donald’s hand would be stronger because he really could come closer to self-funding a general campaign.

I wonder if this will make some conservatives reconsider the wisdom of  having removed those spending limits on Presidential campaigns. 

Going forward, I also wonder if Trump’s strategy of getting free media attention by making wild, bombastic statements every week is wearing thin… like boring summer reruns eventually cause us to quit watching TV.