Do you think Trump is trying to lose on purpose?

[cynatnite]

No tin foil hat here. After seeing the pitiful amount of money he's got, no adverts in battleground states, repubs running in the other direction and numerous amateur mistakes he keeps making, it has me wondering sometimes.

How can someone continue to keep doing so badly?

[arcane1]

1. I still believe, despite everything, that he never had any desire to be president.

I can't say I have any idea WTF he's thinking, but he isn't thinking that!

[Garrett78]

2. Remember, he is an amateur. And a narcissist.

No, I don't think he's trying to lose, but I'm also not convinced that becoming POTUS is his objective. He's all about fame and fortune.

[L. Coyote]

11. With incipient Alzheimer's.

Which explains why he thought he could be President, and a lot more too.

[hollowdweller]

3. Bill Clinton/Trump phone call scenario

Bill Clinton says GOP is racist and lives to hate democrats. Conservatisim is just a ruse.

Trump says "I'll prove you wrong" I'll run as a republican with blatantly racist overtones but with economic policy ideas the republicans reject and the voters will reject me.

"Your on" Clinton replies.

[Dem2]

4. His ego is so big that he thinks he can just "do it my way" and he will set the new standard

He's really that arrogant.

[yardwork]

23. That's it.

[FSogol]

5. People think Trumpy is a master businessman or powerful executive. He's not. He's a boorish man

who gets paid large sums of money to attach his name to others' projects. If it succeeds, he gets some cash and if it fails, they declare bankruptcy and he removes his name.

He has no clue what it takes to be President, no diplomatic skills (it is his way or the highway which can't be done with allies and enemies), and doesn't even do any of the work to prepare. The RNC will be forced to do so much hand holding and damage control that they will lose the House.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. He must actually believe he can win this way

Trump puts his full faith and trust in the stupidity of the American people. It has worked so far.

[sailfla]

20. You got that right

[spud_demon]

7. I think he would be more than happy to lose but still wants to win...

just to see what it would be like to be president. So if he loses he can tell Hillary that he lost on purpose so she owes him a favor, if he wins...?

He's about as qualified as Reagan was, and we all remember how that turned out.

[L. Coyote]

12. Reagan was far more qualified than Trump will ever be.

And Reagan was demented and not qualified at all.

[Garrett78]

13. The comparisons to Reagan and Dubya need to stop.

Reagan and Bush were governors of massive states. Reagan had been involved in politics for many years, and Bush was the son of a former POTUS.

Reagan and even the bumbling Bush were relatively articulate with relatively substantive (though misguided, IMO) positions.

Trump is unlike anything we've seen before.

[DesertRat]

8. I think he's working on promoting his brand

I don't think he's ever had an interest in any form of public service.

[arcane1]

17. He's built up a nice email list that he can sell stuff to. Or sell the list itself.

Hell, I think Cruz was one of the few who actually wanted the job. For the rest, it's just a way to get attention and money.

[PoliticAverse]

9. Perhaps he don't really want to be President, but consider also...

that the skill set he's acquired in life along with his temperament may just not be compatible with
winning the Presidency.

[In_The_Wind]

10. I think he be having second thoughts about running.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. no, i think he has survived and thrived on bravado alone for a long time

and cannot adjust to his new reality. not everyone is cut out for presidential politics

[cheapdate]

15. Absolutely not. Not for a second. He entered this race to win it.

[doc03]

16. No I think he knows exactly what he is doing. I tell you what if I was

on the Hillary Clinton campaign I would be very nervous. The guy has spent practically nothing and there is a
dead heat in Ohio and PA. He doesn't have to spend much money he talks and the MSM comes running.

[HereSince1628]

18. I think Trump is trying to show he's a smarter, better huckster than any other political huckster

And imo he thinks most politicians are as much self-serving hucksters as he is.

Political campaigns are too often about selling stuff with empty promises, a process that is quite familiar to other hucksters be it Sham-WOW barkers or real-estate developers

Trump may have initiated this run as something of heuristic sarcasm intended to demonstrate the Americans are stupid and he is much much smarter, and it's indistinguishable from running a campaign to crash on landing, except for the part where his loyal followers keep lifting him

[Binkie The Clown]

19. He is sincere in his belief that he would make a great president.

But just like Ed Wood who was sincere in his belief that he could make great movies, Donald Trump is monumentally incompetent, and in way over his head.

[sailfla]

21. Come on people. He does not want that job, period.

[yardwork]

22. No. As a narcissist, he thinks he's doing well.

Not just well - he thinks he's running the best campaign anybody ever ran.

This is how people with personality disorders think. Their world revolves around them. While at his core he may feel completely empty and useless, he expends all his energy covering up that feeling by believing that he is the greatest everything that ever lived.

The rules don't apply to Donald Trump.