title:  Trump’s Campaign Is A Complete Mess And This Is Why
text: Despite Donald Trump s bravado and far too many in the mainstream media reporting on the hate and misogyny in his campaign as if it simply a normal presidential enterprise, there are some major problems on Team Trump.A new report from the New York Times finds all manner of dysfunction and infighting in Trump s campaign, which previous reports have noted   simply didn t expect Republican opposition to give up the ghost like it did during the primaries.Among the weirder dysfunctional behavior: Trump staffers think they re being spied on.A sense of paranoia is growing among his campaign staff members, including some who have told associates they believe that their Trump Tower offices in New York may be bugged.This isn t out of nowhere. Trump has built the campaign, as the time terms it, around his  unpredictable personality  and the  nearly a dozen Republicans inside and outside the operation  told them the entire thing is a chaotic mess.Now, many Republican officials worry that Mr. Trump is uninterested in transitioning into his new role, including the rigors of going up against Mrs. Clinton in a general election fight.The Trump operation, for instance, has talked for weeks about hiring a full-time communications director, but has yet to bring anyone on board. Ms. Hicks is still the sole communications staff member; the Clinton campaign, by contrast, has a press team of more than a dozen, including people devoted solely to the news media for black and Hispanic audiences.Even more troubling for Republicans, Trump has expressed disdain for a data-driven campaign, preferring instead to run as he did in the primaries, from one media-spectacle rally to the next. But general election voters are not primary voters. They will not be excited and engaged by the racist antics of Trump s anti-Latino, anti-Muslim, anti-woman crowds. In all likelihood they will be turned off by it.And in modern politics, as President Obama showed in spectacular fashion in 2012, data drives campaigns. In addition to a polished campaigner like Obama, a candidate needs the nerds to mine the data, send out targeted messages, and get voters out to the polls. By all accounts, Hillary Clinton has done that, as the Democratic Party has continued to build on Obama s success.By contrast, Republicans in the swing states (Florida, Ohio, etc.) are now begging the national party for money and people while the Democrats and the Clinton campaign are already on a General Election footing.But Trump has his personal jet and his rallies, so he s happy.Featured image via Flickr