Will Leitch
Bloomberg
Here are 4 ways the Republican front-runner can hurt his own cause during the first debate.
The actual ideology of Donald Trump remains a topic of considerable debate—he was pro-choice and for an assault weapon ban, he’s now pro-life and against all gun control, just for starters—but one thing remains clear: As a politician, he is a nihilist. He has broken, gleefully, so many existing rules of the game, and the numbers just keep going up.
And that's exactly why it's so hard for opponents to come up with a strategy to beat him.
Trump exists so much in his own universe that engaging him, poking the bear, seems likely to cause more harm than help. But that doesn’t mean he can’t implode himself. As impressive as Trump’s numbers are, they are still inextricably tied to the Trump Brand, the bullying, swaggering, "you’re a total loser" television personality. And as anyone who has ever worked in television can tell you, your brand can evaporate in one wrong second. Donald Trump, in order to keep this up, needs to keep being Donald Trump, and that’s a more delicate balance than one might think. Here are some ways it could go wrong for Trump on Thursday night. Not surprisingly, most of these wounds, if they occur, would be self-inflicted.
more here:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-06/donald-trump-s-biggest-debate-challenge-is-donald-trump
