Donald Trump is walking back recent comments about cutting Social Security. He’s searching for an elusive abortion message that will offend neither anti-abortion voters nor suburban moderates.
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He’s inviting negative news cycles with claims that Jewish Democrats “hate” their religion and warnings of a coming auto industry “bloodbath.” And to top it off, he's low on campaign cash — and doesn't have the personal fortune to post a bond in the civil fraud judgment against him in New York.
The former president may be up in the polls, apparently in the driver's seat against a deeply unpopular incumbent. But problems, including many of his own making of him, are piling up around him. And his first two weeks as his party's presumptive nominee have revealed old tendencies and new vulnerabilities that — taken in totality — amount to a rocky start to his general election campaign against Joe Biden.
Even inside the campaign, advisers are acknowledging the uneven transition to the general election. On a call with staff on Friday, a senior Trump campaign adviser lamented some of the recent news coverage, saying it had been a bad press week for the campaign, according to two people with knowledge of the call and granted anonymity to describe a private conversation . The adviser was particularly concerned about an onslaught of news stories highlighting the Trump campaign's abrupt decision to close Republican National Committee minority outreach centers and an early voting initiative as part of the campaign and national party's recent merger.
By the time of the call with staff — and after the Trump campaign faced criticism over the strategy — the RNC's newly elected chair had announced to members that the programs would not end, after all. But the damage was done.