'Chaotic flailing' marks 'the final stage of the Trump campaign': analysis

Former President Donald Trump's recent forays into leveling false and repeatedly debunked claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are not part of some grand master design, argues The Bulwark's A.J. Stoddard.

Rather, she believes his campaign is in the terminal stage of its decline.

"If all this seems like chaotic, political flailing, that’s because it is," she writes in her latest column. "This is the final stage of the Trump campaign. Trump is making a disjointed play for base voters by railing against 'migrants.' And in his delirium, he pines in ALL CAPS on Truth Social late at night for the voters who have shunned him. There is nothing more here."

What's more, argues Stoddard, Trump's chaotic campaigning has now infected his entire party to the point where Republicans seemingly agree on nothing except the issue of border security -- and even that is muddled by Trump's lies about Haitians eating pets.

"The death of the GOP started slowly, but it’s happening more quickly this year," she contends. "Republicans no longer champion the free market or free trade, the rule of law, the Constitution, entitlement reform, debt reduction, limited government, American exceptionalism and leadership on the world stage, personal responsibility, or protections for the unborn. Instead, they champion Trump."

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She adds that Trump's recent wild array of policy proposals, ranging from legalized pot to repealing parts of his own signature tax cut, do not appear to be part of any coherent appeal but are just grab-bag ideas that he hopes will catch on.

"This is the Republican party of 2024," she writes in conclusion. "Republicans nominated Trump a third time, after his defeat and his attempted coup, and dissolved what was left of the GOP. There is no consistent messaging. There is no consistent ideology. There is just Trump."