Republicans are starting to raise alarms about Trump's ground game

[RandySF]

Some battleground state Republicans say they’re worried they see little evidence of Donald Trump’s ground game — and fear it could cost him the election in an exceedingly close race.

In interviews, more than a dozen Republican strategists and operatives in presidential battlegrounds voiced serious concerns about what they described as a paltry get-out-the-vote effort by the Trump campaign, an untested strategy of leaning on outside groups to help do field work and a top-of-the-ticket strategy that’s disjointed from the one Republicans down the ballot are running.

After years of attempts to mimic Democrats’ Barack Obama-era grassroots organizing model, the GOP is still trying to develop a ground game strategy that can rival their opponents’. And as Harris continues to pour money into her door-to-door efforts, some of the strategists and operatives fear the party’s efforts this year will fall short — potentially hampering Trump in key battlegrounds.

“The question in my mind is, are they all singing from the same sheet of music, and is there that strong, extensive, well-funded machine at the top of the ticket?” said Stephen Lawson, a Republican operative in Georgia. “I think that’s a central question heading into early voting next month.”

A Michigan-based GOP strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, described the party’s challenge bluntly: “They are out-matching us in money, in enthusiasm and in the ground game.”



https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/30/republicans-alarm-trump-ground-game-00181577

[Emile]

1. Now they're concerned 😨, lol 😂.

[Tanuki]

2. Maybe they should have spoken up when Trump appointed his

totally unqualified daughter-in-law to head the RNC and spent donations on his own legal expenses instead of funding field offices and supporting down-ticket candidates across the nation.

[BoRaGard]

3. "Ha ha. Suckers!" - The Felon (R)

What did the G.O.P expect from a draft-dodging casino hustler felon-rapist?

[ColinC]

6. "It's like what they say in Texas -fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on-uhh-umm

If you fool me once I shouldn’t get fooled again!”

-George W Bush

[brewens]

4. The lavish spending and squandered donation funds will be epic and legendary. Like no one has ever seen before!

It's been going on for a few years too. Rudy and Bernie Kerik were flying around the country in private jets staying at fine hotels and accomplishing nothing for his voters. There is no end to the fraud.

[Tanuki]

8. Don't forget the hundreds of thousands paid to Melania's "stylist"

for "strategic consulting"!


https://m.imdb.com/news/ni64426835/

"Melania Trump‘s stylist, Herve Pierre Braillard, earned over $371,000 from Donald Trump‘s Super PACs.

The payments made to Braillard were noted for “Strategy Consulting.” Eight installments of $18,000 and one of $6,000 totaled $132,000, as reported in Trump’s PAC filing with the Federal Election Commission. Since April 2022, Braillard has earned $371,000.

Braillard’s earnings have raised eyebrows among ethics watchdogs.

In the past, Melania’s office has said in a statement, “Mr. Pierre is a world-renowned artist. His work extends to many different fields, not just fashion design. His expertise is utilized for special projects and events.”
.....

The former president’s Super PACs, the Save America Leadership PAC and the Make America Great Again PAC, have been bleeding money for his legal expenses in the last year. They spent over $50 million last year alone, with the former president’s legal case just getting started."...(more)

[ColinC]

5. It's a tough decision between open field offices and pay your legal fees

[FakeNoose]

7. "Ground game" means knocking on doors

It means going into neighborhoods where (ugh ... choke...) Black people and immigrants live.
"No way, we're not doing that!"

OK they're not doing that. Instead they're outsourcing to robo-dialing companies (ones that probably aren't even in the US) and it's real easy to block those phone calls.

[Torchlight]

9. Maybe the trump team has something ready in its pocket

but just looking at the terrain, even to a amateur like me, his campaign seems lethargic and without direction or any goal other than a soft definition of winning the election. Being down 44-4 as the fourth quarter opens isn't insurmountable, but damn-- you gotta at least act like you want it to get there.

Sure, maybe he has something nefarious and genuisetical in his pocket he's saving for the dramatic money-shot, but to me, it looks more and more every week as though he's just calling it in, going through the motions, and ready for this thing to be over so he can go home and tantrumate for the next three years about "being cheated better than anyone! Ever!"

[Johnny2X2X]

10. They outsourced their ground game

So a friend lives in a small town in Northern Michigan along US 10. He's a disabled vet and a devoted Democrat. He gets a knock on his door and it's some young Asian guy, he does a double take because there's not a lot of that ethnicity in his town and he basically knows his whole town. The guy introduces himself and hands him a flyer for Donald Trump. My friend laughs and hands it back to him saying something snarky like, "Fuck Trump." But he didn't just dismiss the guy, he asked him what the heck he was doing there. The man answered, "I get paid for this, my firm was hired to do all the door knocking in this part of the state."

So you've got a guy getting paid who has no enthusiam for Trump door knkcoking. And his list of people to visit is obviously not great either ad my friend has never been a Republican voter.

Don't underestimate trump and his team, they are doing some really smart things, but this isn't one of them.

[dalton99a]

11. Let Trump be Trump. Leave him alone

Stay the course