FAIRFIELD, Connecticut — US Republican Donald Trump on Saturday repeated his attack on President Barack Obama that he helped “found” Daesh (the so-called IS) and railed against media reports that his campaign is failing, at a campaign rally in Connecticut, a state where he has a long-shot of being victorious.
Speaking for more than an hour in a sweltering room, Trump spent a significant portion of his speech complaining about the media.
He again threatened to revoke the press credentials of The New York Times.
The credentials allow reporters access to press-only areas of his campaign events. He has already banned other outlets, including The Washington Post.
On Saturday, the New York newspaper published an article detailing failed efforts to make Trump focus his campaign on the general election.
“These are the most dishonest people,” Trump said. “Maybe we’ll start thinking about taking their press credentials away from them.”
Trump visiting Connecticut, a heavily Democratic state, raised eyebrows among many Republicans.
“It’s asinine that he would be in Connecticut holding a public rally less than 90 days before the election,” said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. “You don’t see Hillary publicly campaigning in Idaho and Mississippi. I have to think this proves the candidate is running the campaign, which explains why it’s such a disaster of biblical proportions.”
At several points the crowd chanted “lock her up,” a frequent campaign rally chant in reference to Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump told the crowd that normally he responds by saying he intends instead to defeat her in the Nov. 8 election, but this time added, “You know what? You have a point!“
Trump also dropped his recent efforts to say he was not being serious when he said Obama was the “founder” of Daesh (the so-called IS) .
“It’s the opinion of myself and a lot of people that he was the founder,” Trump told the crowd.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party could be nearing a breaking point with Donald Trump.
As he skips from one gaffe to the next, GOP leaders in Washington and in the most competitive states have begun openly contemplating turning their backs on their party’s presidential nominee to prevent what they fear will be wide-scale Republican losses on Election Day.
Back in 1996, the party also largely gave up on nominee Bob Dole once it became clear he had little chance of winning, so it’s not without precedent. Nevertheless, it’s jolting prospect now, with roughly three months still left before the Nov. 8 vote and weeks before the three presidential debates.
Republicans who have devoted their professional lives to electing GOP candidates say they believe the White House already may be lost. They’re exasperated by Trump’s divisive politics and his insistence on running a general election campaign that mirrors his approach to the primaries.
“Based on his campaign record, there’s no chance he’s going to win,” said Sara Fagen, the political director for former President George W. Bush. “He’s losing groups of people he can’t get back.”
Trump’s campaign says things are moving in the right direction, a position that itself feeds the discontent among his GOP detractors. The billionaire businessman’s loyalists say enough time remains to change the dynamic against Democrat Hillary Clinton who, like Trump, is deeply unpopular with voters.
And his backers are blaming the media for the perception that all is not well.
“Frankly, a lot of stuff over the last week ... it’s him being distorted,” said Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. “For the last week or so, he’s been very focused and very much on his game.”
Trump did show some modest improvement as a candidate in the past week. He has stopped criticizing a Muslim family of a fallen US soldier. Gone are the fights with some of his party’s most respected members of Congress.
But also in the past seven days, Trump has questioned the advice of senior aides, threatened to stop raising money for the party, dismissed the usefulness of get-out-the-vote efforts and defended his decision not to run any television ads even as his opponents fill the airwaves with spots backing Clinton in several contested states.
It all largely overshadowed the content of 44 previously-unreleased email exchanges Clinton had while at the State Department. They became public on Tuesday and showed her interacting with lobbyists, political and Clinton Foundation donors and business interests while serving as secretary of state.
