Trump allies warn: Stay on message, stop with the distractions

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : On Monday morning, aNew York Times/Siena College poll showed signs of strength for Trump in Georgia and Arizona -- two states Biden won in 2020 -- and a slight lead in North Carolina.
62% : "Having worked for Trump in 2016 and 2020 we're in a better position than we were in past elections.
61% : Trump has long viewed the bomb-throwing activist as, in the words of one ally, a "fighter" -- one of his highest compliments.
61% : "In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump "has built the most powerful and most professional team in political history and, under his leadership, has overcome every single obstacle in his way.
60% : In response, Trump has returned to his comfort zone of lightning-rod associates, conspiracy theories and vitriol and has opened the door to outside voices who embrace a more freewheeling approach.
60% : Shortly before the debate, Trump invited her to fly with him to Philadelphia.
54% : "Still, with the race entering its final stretch, there is concern about Trump within the party's top ranks.
53% : But Lewandowski, the year after Trump took office, had also co-authored a book entitled "Let Trump be Trump."
50% : The National Republican Senatorial Committee's executive director, Jason Thielman, told donors at a retreat in Sea Island, Georgia, over the weekend that Trump was out-performing his poll numbers compared to similar points in the 2020 and 2016 election cycles, according to an attendee.
46% : As Trump began preparing for the Sept. 10 debate, he worked with his team to develop "pivots" -- lines that could be used to turn a question into a more favored topic.
46% : "Trump is strongest when he is talking about what people care about the most: the economy, immigration, crime, trade, the Trump core messages," said Republican strategist David Urban, who ran Trump's successful 2016 campaign in Pennsylvania, a state that could decide the 2024 election "When he gets distracted and goes in different directions, it's less helpful.
46% : Trump had privately been irritated by the endorsement and decided to put Swift -- who is a native of the must-win state of Pennsylvania -- on blast to his millions of followers.
44% : Trump posted to X.One ally speculated that Trump's all-caps message on a Sunday morning was in response to a poll about Swift's impact on the race that had just been shown on ABC News' "This Week."
40% : Trump had been distracted, in Wynn's view.
39% : According to three people briefed on the discussions, Trump had said privately he wanted to get Lewandowski involved as a surrogate.
33% : According to two people briefed on the discussions, Trump was aware of the story by coverage in The Federalist, a conservative outlet that published a 911 call from a local resident.
31% : And Trump wasn't done with his freewheeling approach.
28% : In mid-August, Trump told his advisers he wanted to bring in Lewandowski, who in 2021 had been removed from a top position in a pro-Trump super PAC after he was accused by the wife of a donor of making unwanted sexual advances towards her at a charity dinner in Las Vegas.
16% : Trump was behind the scenes fielding calls from allies worried about Loomer's presence, leading him to finally distance himself from her.
15% : On Sept. 13, Trump wrote on X that Loomer "doesn't work for the Campaign," and that he "disagree[s] with the statements she made."
14% : But when Trump took the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Trump was thrown off balance by Harris's efforts to get under his skin, especially her assertion that his supporters were bailing on his rallies.
11% : Also problematic was that Trump undercut his efforts to attack Harris on immigration -- a centerpiece of his campaign and an area where polling shows Harris is vulnerable -- by baselessly asserting that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating residents' pets.
11% : The next day Trump had a new problem on his hands: Loomer.
7% : But over the past several months -- one of the most turbulent periods in American political history, in which Trump was targeted in two apparent assassination attempts and Biden withdrew from the race -- Trump has veered off course.
3% : Last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine penned an op-ed in which he criticized Trump and Vance over their ongoing fixation with Springfield, where life has since been upended by the claims.

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