Donald Trump campaign crumbles despite Hillary Clinton scandals

WASHINGTON: "We are winning and the press is refusing to report it. Don't let them fool you — get out and vote! #DrainTheSwamp on November 8th!" exhorts Donald Trump to his supporters, via social media. He’s quoting a solitary poll (

Rasmussen Reports

) that shows him leading Hillary Clinton by two points, within the margin of error.

But a dozen other polls show Hillary

Clinton

well ahead, in some by as much as 10-12 points. Trump’s explanation on Twitter: "Dems are making up phony polls in order to suppress the the Trump. We are going to WIN!"

Unless there is a silent tsunami of support for Donald

Trump

that the best political weathercocks in the country have been unable to detect, polls are starting to show a landslide for Hillary Clinton. In fact, the Democratic Party is now feeling so confident of retaining the White House that it is diverting some of its energy and resources to capturing the Senate and the House, both currently under Republican control.

Clinton herself is moving beyond the ten so-called battleground states into some shaky Republican redoubts in an effort to expand her winning margin, which will allow her even greater elbow room to push through a more liberal agenda.

On his part, President Obama, seemingly assured of a political legatee (or an ersatz third term) has set his sights on helping Democrats recapture some of the state legislatures currently under GOP stranglehold. Republicans control 68 out of 98 state legislative chambers in the country — the highest number in the history of the party.

This is now turning out to be a battle for the ideological soul of America. Democrats are moving in for the kill, taking advantage of the Republican disarray. A full-scale Republican rout involving Democrats winning the White House, Senate, House, and many state legislatures and gubernatorial races will spell the end of the Lincoln’s Grand Old Party.

Fat chance, say Trump loyalists, promising that there is an undercurrent of support for the Presidential candidate that msm (mainstream media) is failing to detect.

One explanation is that many Trump supporters are simply not coming out candidly because they are either too embarrassed of being stigmatized. Two blue-collar workers in New Jersey told this correspondent that they know of many Trump supporters who don’t advertise their loyalty but who will speak through the ballot.

But surveys show Trump’s advantage in voter enthusiasm is also starting to wane. The latest tracking poll from ABC News shows Trump’s 12-point advantage in voter enthusiasm over Hillary Clinton from early September has now at a 3-point deficit. Currently, 52 per cent of Clinton supporters polled describe themselves as "very enthusiastic" about their choice, her highest level to date, up sharply from the 36 per cent in surveys taken just after Labor Day. By contrast, 49 per cent of Trump’s supporters can say the same about their enthusiasm for their candidate.

Clinton has also improved in terms of "negative support" — 56 per cent of her supporters say they will vote for her mainly to support her candidacy rather than to oppose Trump; whereas 54 per cent of Trump’s voters are motivated by opposition to Clinton.

That doesn’t sound like a wave for Trump, hidden or otherwise.

The remarkable thing is Clinton is surging forward despite a plethora of scandals surrounding her, not all of them in the imagination of conservative wingnuts. Many respected politica pundits, Bob Woodward among them, agree that the functioning of the

Clinton Foundation

is a real scandal, and her private email server capers, despite her being absolved of criminal behavior, was definitely dodgy.

But Trump has been unable to take advantage of her vulnerabilities, in part because of his own odious record of sexism, misogyny, and ceaseless narcissism that has turned off many voters.

On Monday, amid reports about how Clinton had raised a staggering $ 1 billion from fat-cat mega donors for her election campaign, Trump tweeted: "Clinton Charity Got Up To $56 Million From Nations That Are Anti-Women, Gays' #CrookedHillary." Entirely true, but the charge would have resonated better if Trump and the party he represented treated women, gays, the underprivileged and the dispossessed any better.

Trump's own campaign aide appears to have given up on the race.

"We are behind," campaign manager Kellyanne Conway conceded in a television interview, while insisting, "We're not giving up. We know we can win this."