| US election: The new strategy is let Trump be Trump | He was starting to look like a man defeated.
He'd lost his swagger. His mojo was flat.
That was this time last week.
Donald Trump, the Teflon terminator who breezed through the primaries dropping flaming bombs of rhetoric that would have choked any other campaign, was suddenly looking vulnerable.
He loves to cite poll numbers, when they're good, but when they're almost universally bad what is there to talk about?
Suddenly his blunders were hurting; tackling the family of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, appearing to encourage violence against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and suggesting Russia hack her emails.
The Teflon was pierced and the poll numbers were deflating like a punctured balloon.
As of today, national head-to-head polls have Hillary six points up on Mr Trump but more critically he's down as many as 14 points in swing state Virginia and also lagging in battleground states like Florida, Colorado and even in Iowa.
Enter the "most dangerous political operative in America".
Something had to be done. So Donald Trump did something that will set the tone until November, and probably beyond.
He introduced Stephen Bannon, the head of the right-wing news site Breitbart to run his campaign.
Mr Bannon is an anti-establishment conservative and he's expected to "let Trump, be Trump" rather than bowing to recent party pressure for him to tone himself down and be more "presidential".
It's a pushback on Republican leaders who have grudgingly accepted Mr Trump in an attempt to win the election (and, let's be honest, the Supreme Court nomination) and are now trying to squish him, hair and all, into a presidential box that fits their sensibilities.
Well, here's a newsflash people - that was never going to happen.
Mr Trump has made one thing clear this week - he'll win or lose this election on his own terms, and he'll put friends around him to help him do it.
Expect The Donald and his swagger back at rallies from here on.
We'll be watching closely to see if the polls bounce or continue to dribble down the drain.
And just on that ...
Question: How do you get Mr Trump to stop tweeting? Take away the poll numbers. According to the Washington Post there's a true correlation.
HE SAID
"They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!" - in a tweet on Thursday morning.
No-one is exactly sure what he meant but Mr Trump has previously tried to claim credit for Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
We assume he means he's now the underdog who will burst through to victory. Let's see.
SHE SAID
"Friends don't let friends vote for Trump."
Repeatedly.
WHERE'S BERNIE?
The Bern is still keeping a low profile, except on Twitter where he's been tweeting up a storm with Dalai Lama-style statements with a political twist.
SAYS WHO?
"Polls. Most of them. All of them?"
This is one of those slightly uncomfortable but strangely compelling political interviews. Watch away.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
At the Republican National Convention, Patricia Smith gave a stirring speech about losing her son in Benghazi, Libya, back in 2012.
The crisis in Benghazi is often pointed to by Republicans as one of Hillary's biggest failures during her tenure as secretary of state.
Afterwards, Ms Smith became commonly known as the "Benghazi Mom".
This week, the author of the speech, which the New Yorker described as the "weaponisation of grief", said he may vote for Hillary.
Richard Cross is a long time Maryland Republican and is another name to add to a growing list of those who are distancing themselves from Mr Trump and publicly indicating they may do the unthinkable and abandon the party to vote for Hillary.
VEEPSTAKES
Tim Kaine wins the week after hitting the harmonica - more than once - on the campaign trail.
But what got him this week's gold? His wife, Anne Holton, joining in and showing off one of her own hobbies, clogging.
Seriously.
BACK TO THE BENCH, SPORT
Hillary Clinton has made a sporting effort in recent weeks to drop some Olympic analogies into her stump speeches.
In the latest, she checked her notes before making an overture to the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland.
"We don't win anymore? Tell that to our Olympic athletes in Rio," she said.
Cringe! What's the old saying, "three strikes and you're out"?
BY THE NUMBERS
$30,000 - That's the amount of money AlternativePAC, a pro-Gary Johnson group, spent on internet memes, according to filing documents.
Don't laugh. Hillary's campaign has been at the same idea for months, putting together a millennial engagement program to help with memes.
2016. Nuf said.
THINGS ARE NOW JUST GETTING QUACKY ...
Last week a man scaled Trump Tower like Spiderman.
Today, Donald Duck did laps up and down the escalator. Looks like it may've been a DNC stunt.
VOTING AROUND THE WORLD
Sure, the presidential election is picking a candidate to lead America but it hasn't stopped the rest of the world from taking some ownership (you're reading this, right?)
Well, this week, Vice-President Joe Biden was greeted in Serbia by protesters wearing T-shirts featuring Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is wooing voters in ... wait for it ... Israel.
Yup. His target? The 350,000 Americans living there.
The slogan: "Trump... in Israel's interest."
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Joe Biden was on the hustings with Hillary this week and she was there at the airport to meet him in Pennsylvania.
However, when Joe got off the plane and embraced the Democratic nominee, he just couldn't seem to let her go.
Cable TV did an actual story on this with the strap saying "16-second hug".
That's your weekly wrap folks.
Expect landmark education and immigration speeches from Mr Trump over the next week or so.
Will there be a teleprompter? That's a watching brief.
I'll be keeping an eye on it from the mountains of Vermont.
I'll let you know in a fortnight if I spot the Bern. | ![]() | | | About this email You received this email because you are subscribed to ABC News email alerts. This message was sent to you at starnewsposting@gmail.com. Please add newslists@your.abc.net.au to your email address book to see images by default and stop the email being treated as spam. This email address is not monitored - Please don't reply to this email. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Add or remove topics | Unsubscribe | Contact Us |
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