Blog #2 2016 Campaign &Campaign Team

Blog #2 2016 Campaign & Campaign Team 

Trump's greatest strength would have to be his persona of a successful businessman. I think many of his followers like Trump not necessarily for who he is but for what he has done. With that being said his largest weakness in my opinion is his self-image.  Trump seems to lack any sort of a filter and has insulted various groups of people at any given time including women and the mentally disabled. The negative things Trump has said about these groups have rubbed them the wrong way including others not included on those groups. An opportunity Trump had and utilized though out his campaign was the susceptibility for acceptance among the older voters.  Trumps idea of  “making America great again” is something that would really appeal to an older crowd and we all know that elderly are the most likely to vote so this was an opportunity that Trump utilized and it really helped him. The largest threat that Trump faced during the election would have to be a PR threat of the resurfacing of a video interview of Trump saying disturbing things about women. Some of the things involved Trump talking about women in a way most would consider as non-consensual sex.  The most destructive comment that came from the video was Trump saying he “Grabs women right by the pussy”.  That comment is something nearly impossible to twist in a positive way or recover from.

            Trump most highlighted his stance on immigration, finance and honesty. Trump made it very apparent that he does not like our current immigration system specifically on the boarder between the USA and Mexico. Trump often talked about how he was planning to reform the system as well as build a wall.  As far as finances go Trump vowed to give the money and power back to the people. He wants to create a conservative government like back then, hence the phrase “make America great again”. Some issues Trump failed to highlight was discussion of equal rights for women, minorities, LGBTQ community and the disabled.  Not discussing this platform really hurt him. It made him seem insensitive and not progressive. I feel that if Trump had taken a stand for equal rights he would have gained a lot more respect from the voters. When it comes to the focal issue, again I would have to say immigration. This was what Trump ran on and repeatedly spoke about. So much so that one of his coined phrases was “build that wall”.

            I could not mention Trump’s campaign team without talking about the controversial Kellyanne Conway.  Conway was named Trump’s campaign manager, making her the first woman to ever run a republican presidential campaign.  Conway graduated magna cum laude from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., with a degree in political science. She then studied at Oxford University and continued on to earn a law degree with honors from George Washington University Law School. Conway has spent decades as a political operative. She is best known for advising on how to appeal to women voters. (something Trump desperately needed help with).  Conway is someone Trump really trusted with his election and his appeal to women voters.

 

Steven Bannon is currently the chief strategist for Trump’s staff but previously served as the executive chairman of Trump’s campaign. Bannon received a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech, and then joined the military and served overseas. Bannon has said that he was not a conservative until he went over seas and had some disagreements with former President Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy approach. When Trump was asked his thought process behind hiring on Bannon he simply said: “ I want to win. … That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win” 

 However, New York Times believe that Bannon’s hiring “formally completed a merger between the more strident elements of the conservative news media and Mr. Trumps campaign, which was incubated and fostered in their boisterous coverage of his rise.” In simple terms they believed that Trump hired Brannon due his previous power over a large conservative news outlet and it is believed that Bannon assisted in the extensive coverage of Trump’s rise to political fame via conservative new sources.

https://ballotpedia.org/Steve_Bannon

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a62994/kellyanne-conway-trump-new-campaign-manager/