after perhaps the worst week any presidential nominee has ever had, donald trump enters the final full month of the 2016 contest in desperate need of a big moment to halt hillary clinton<u+2019>s newfound momentum and his own downward spiral. trouble is, he may have to wait another seven days. story continued below barring a major shake-up coming out of tuesday<u+2019>s vice presidential debate between two low-wattage running mates and a mid-week wikileaks release predicted by trump confidant roger stone to be <u+201c>the end of clinton<u+201d> actually coming to fruition, the republican nominee<u+2019>s next opportunity to dramatically change the race won<u+2019>t come until the second presidential debate on sunday night in st. louis. and republicans, who had been buoyed by a narrowing contest until trump<u+2019>s poor showing in the first debate a week ago, are hardly optimistic that their advice-ignoring nominee will do the preparation needed to deliver a better performance in the second round. plus, many say they are worried about what additional damage he might cause between now and then spending days spewing insults only to face a revelation that he might have avoided taxes for years. <u+201c>donald trump is facing a cascade of bad news and self-inflicted controversies at the worst possible moment for his candidacy,<u+201d> said ryan williams, a gop strategist in washington. <u+201c>he has been gaining ground in both national and battleground state polls for several weeks, but now his momentum has been blunted and undecided voters are souring on his campaign. there is even more pressure on him to turn things around by delivering a commanding performance at the second debate. he desperately needs it.<u+201d> with five weeks to go, the polling is moving in clinton<u+2019>s favor. the gop nominee trailed her in the lead up to the first debate by 2.4 percentage points in the real clear politics average of national polls. surveys taken in the days following that showdown saw clinton opening up her national lead<u+2014>a fox news survey shows her up five in a matchup without third-party candidates <u+2014>and gaining ground in swings states such as florida, nevada, michigan and new hampshire. his lead on the question of which candidate would do a better job managing the economy had narrowed too, from +7 to +2. 2016 by ben schreckinger those polls, taken last tuesday through thursday, don<u+2019>t yet account for voters<u+2019> reactions to trump<u+2019>s middle-of-the-night tweetstorm or the new york times <u+2019> revelation that he might have paid no federal personal income taxes, which he and his campaign didn<u+2019>t dispute on sunday, sticking to the line that trump smartly and legally navigated the country<u+2019>s tax code. <u+201c>he comes into the second debate with deteriorating standing in the polls and even deeper questions about his fitness for office,<u+201d> said steve schmidt. in addition to the times report saturday night on trump<u+2019>s taxes, three damaging investigative stories surfaced last week: a newsweek report revealing that trump had probably violated the cuban embargo, which his campaign manager inadvertently confirmed on tv; a washington post report that the trump foundation is operating illegally, without the proper certifications to solicit money; and a story in the los angeles times citing employees at his golf courses who said trump wanted to fire women he didn<u+2019>t deem attractive enough. normally, any one of these stories or episodes alone would be devastating and the subject of days of news coverage for a more conventional candidate who didn<u+2019>t so constantly flood the zone with outrageous rhetoric, overwhelming the public<u+2019>s ability to keep pace. but even in this entertainment-driven media climate that has numbed the country<u+2019>s sensory responses to trump, there is no question that the totality of his terrible week is already having an effect on the electorate just as early voting in many states is getting underway. with 84 million americans watching on television last monday night, trump withered under the bright lights, his performance devolving over 90 minutes from interruptions to incoherence. he admitted to rooting for the housing market to fail and refused to offer african-americans any words to help them understand his years of harassing and undermining president obama over his birth certificate. <u+201c>he started out by painting her into the status quo corner in and then he just exhausted himself and became incoherent,<u+201d> said rick tyler, a gop communications guru who worked for ted cruz. <u+201c>if there was any question about stamina, she put that away like reagan put away the age question.<u+201d> it got worse in the days following the debate, as trump gave further damning definition to clinton<u+2019>s characterizations of him. he affirmed her claims that he<u+2019>d shamed a former miss universe who<u+2019>d gained weight by continuing to do so in television interviews and in a barrage of tweets, including three sent in the wee hours friday morning encouraging people to watch her sex tape, even though such a tape does not appear to exist. and he brought her charge that he is too thin-skinned and ill-tempered to be commander in chief into bas relief by claiming victory based on unscientific, online fan polls, by casting blame for his poor debate performance and by increasingly agitated, off-script performances on the stump. by brian faler he undercut his own campaign<u+2019>s spin that he was <u+201c>gentlemanly<u+201d> in not bringing up bill clinton<u+2019>s sexual improprieties during the first debate by continuing to do so in the days that followed, increasingly in blunt, crude terms. in an interview friday, the thrice-married trump hinted that he<u+2019>d likely bring the subject up at the next debate, while lying about his own past adultery, which has been well documented. by saturday night when he took the stage just as the times story was being published online, trump suggested that hillary clinton is no longer faithful to her husband. <u+201c>why should she be?<u+201d> he said. following the debate, clinton was downright ebullient on the campaign trail, trolling trump and content to let her opponent dominate news coverage of the race so long as the information flow on him remains negative. inside the democrat<u+2019>s brooklyn headquarters, the creeping doubt of the last three weeks of september has given way to renewed confidence in the campaign<u+2019>s turnout operation, all-star team of surrogates set to be dispatched to swing states, clinton<u+2019>s far easier path to 270 electoral votes and the early returns from internal polling following the first debate. <u+201c>we think there<u+2019>s some consolidation,<u+201d> said joel benenson, the campaign<u+2019>s pollster. <u+201c>we think the debate performance was very strong, and it was probably the last big event in terms of that size of audience.<u+201d> just a week after it seemed trump<u+2019>s ascent was finally bringing some of the gop<u+2019>s most recalcitrant anti-trumpers in line behind the nominee, some republicans are now contemplating an endgame that may include gop senate candidates telling voters that a clinton presidency will require a conservative congressional majority to block her progressive agenda. <u+201c>the check and balance message is warming up in the bullpen for other campaigns,<u+201d> glen bolger, a gop pollster, tweeted saturday. by thomas wright by bill scher by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
can trump turn the page? - politico
eli stokols ben schreckinger brian faler jack shafer