The Cost of Trump’s Letting Hillary Get Away with Repeated Mistakes
Hillary Clinton is a target-rich environment, if only Trump would take aim.
By Michael Barone — August 5, 2016
Opportunity cost. That’s an economist’s term for what you lose out on when you divert your investments and attention to something less profitable. It’s also a good term for the losses Donald Trump has incurred in the last six days — more than 6 percent of the 94 days between the close of the Democratic National Convention and the election in November.
Trump has spent much of that time attacking the father and mother of a Muslim U.S. serviceman killed in Iraq. He has made a point of refusing to support Paul Ryan or John McCain in their upcoming primaries. He accepted someone else’s Purple Heart and said that his business investments amounted to “sacrifices.”
Even if you think Trump’s remarks were defensible, you should be able to see how a hostile press would feature them in the most damaging way. Mainstream media inevitably slant things against Republicans. You may not like it, but if you’re a rational adult you take it into account.
The opportunity cost for Trump and for his party is that he failed to direct attention to what he could have made of Hillary Clinton’s glaring weaknesses.
One was highlighted by the GDP figures announced Friday, showing just 1.2 percent economic growth in the last quarter. Clinton, as the candidate of the incumbent party, had to promise to continue and extend its macroeconomic policies. The GDP figures make a powerful case against that.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/438695/print
