http://www.weeklystandard.com/trump-has-given-up/article/2005032#.WAwKJ31rkJU.twitterTrump Has Given Up8:00 PM, OCT 22, 2016 |
By MICHAEL WARREN
Donald Trump believes he has lost the presidential election. That's the only reasonable explanation for the Republican nominee's decision on Saturday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to reiterate his claim that the more than 10 women who have accused Trump of past acts of sexual assault are liars. Trump also said he would sue them.
"Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign," Trump said at the beginning of his speech near the site of the consequential Civil War battle. "Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over."
There are 17 days left before Election Day. Millions of Americans have already begun casting their ballots via early voting. Trump may be an unconventional presidential candidate, and he's particularly prickly at perceived affronts to his reputation, but a statement like Trump's in Gettysburg is not one of a man who believes he has a chance of winning. It's an act of resignation. Even the words Trump used—"after the election is over"—indicate he's mentally moved past November 8.
There are plenty of other signs in recent days that Trump knows he won't be the next president of the United States. His talk of a "rigged election" and his refusal to say he'd accept the results if he won sound like efforts to save face ahead of impending defeat. His descent into the darker elements of conspiratorial political rhetoric suggests a fatalism about appealing to anyone beyond a small rump of his support. Those closest to Trump are already preparing for a Hillary Clinton victory: his campaign manager is signaling to future clients that she brought out the best in a bad candidate; his CEO is winking at questions about Trump TV; and his daughter is already starting to try to salvage the family brand.
So when did Trump know? Was it after the debacle of the first debate? Or was it when the Access Hollywood video dropped? Or was it earlier than that—some sign in the polls or in his gut that prompted him to bring on the CEO of the right-wing grievance-mongering Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, to run the final months of his losing campaign Trump's way?
Whenever and whatever the moment, how he's acted since then as the nominee of a major party is political malpractice. If Trump truly cared about stopping Clinton's agenda or helping the Republican party, he'd have followed the example of Bob Dole in 1996 and made every last effort to ensure the GOP retained control of their now very shaky congressional majorities. But he doesn't, and he hasn't. So Republican leaders in the House and Senate might well ask themselves, even at this late hour: If Trump has given up on Trump, isn't it time they did as well?
