[T]he other Republican presidential candidates don't know what to make of Donald Trump. They have never seen anything like him before. Trump is running like a maniac all over the place cannonading everything and everyone, including the other candidates, who come within range and the other Republicans don't know what to do.
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The second-tier candidates--Cruz has said he will not attack Trump, and has not; Huckabee and Walker are "going to school" on Trump, modulating their message as they see what he, the front-runner, can get away with. Me-too! Me-too! I'm anti-Mexican, too! I'm a kinder, gentler anti-Mexican.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker['s]...candidacy has wilted in the heat of a summer dominated by Donald Trump, with loyalists and supporters now calling for an immediate mid-course correction.
Walker’s backers see a campaign discombobulated by Trump’s booming popularity and by his provocative language on immigration, China and other issues.
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A former Republican officeholder said Walker needs to project the political persona that first made him attractive to conservatives, rather than seemingly lurch further to the right on issues that never have been at his core.
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As Trump has continued to gain momentum, Walker’s campaign in the past two weeks launched a concerted effort to win over Trump’s supporters...
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As part of this reboot, Walker has adopted a more aggressive posture on the campaign trail...sharpening his criticism of...members of his own party — even the Republicans back in Wisconsin who were instrumental to his rapid ascension.
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Walker has also embraced several of Trump’s marquee stances, such as the businessman’s controversial proposal for reforming the immigration system.
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In discussing immigration on Sunday, Walker said constructing a wall on the U.S. border with Canada — the longest in the world at 5,525 miles — is “a legitimate issue for us to look at.”
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Comments like this strike many Walker loyalists as too focused on chasing the hot issue of the day.
-Washington Post today.
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The second-tier candidates--Cruz has said he will not attack Trump, and has not; Huckabee and Walker are "going to school" on Trump, modulating their message as they see what he, the front-runner, can get away with. Me-too! Me-too! I'm anti-Mexican, too! I'm a kinder, gentler anti-Mexican.
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What Trump has also done, when a person is in attack mode, the focus of debate shifts from the attacker to his objective, no matter the plausibility...The other big idea of Trump's, and this he got into with Jorge Ramos, is to build a wall along the border to keep all the Mexican criminals and rapists out. Ramos, and Jeb Bush too, said "Too expensive...Billions of dollars...Impractical...Real solutions," and Trump goes, "I build things, okay? It's easier to build a 94 story building than a wall," and I go to myself, "A 1900 mile wall, though? It does seem like it would be easier to build a wall than a tower but a 1900 mile wall?"...Psychologically, Trump gets you to shift focus from himself to his objective and from idea to grubby details. He gets us to accept, even if tentatively, the idea that Mexican illegals are the enemy, that a wall is the solution and that the Iraqi oil fields should be seized. Powerful thing, psychology. Real advantage, being the attacker.
-Public Occurrences, August 27.
-Public Occurrences, August 27.
What happened to Scott Walker?
Walker’s backers see a campaign discombobulated by Trump’s booming popularity and by his provocative language on immigration, China and other issues.
...
A former Republican officeholder said Walker needs to project the political persona that first made him attractive to conservatives, rather than seemingly lurch further to the right on issues that never have been at his core.
...
As Trump has continued to gain momentum, Walker’s campaign in the past two weeks launched a concerted effort to win over Trump’s supporters...
...
As part of this reboot, Walker has adopted a more aggressive posture on the campaign trail...sharpening his criticism of...members of his own party — even the Republicans back in Wisconsin who were instrumental to his rapid ascension.
...
Walker has also embraced several of Trump’s marquee stances, such as the businessman’s controversial proposal for reforming the immigration system.
...
In discussing immigration on Sunday, Walker said constructing a wall on the U.S. border with Canada — the longest in the world at 5,525 miles — is “a legitimate issue for us to look at.”
...
Comments like this strike many Walker loyalists as too focused on chasing the hot issue of the day.
-Washington Post today.
