Political experts have warned that the U.S. Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, continued insults on rival Hillary Clinton recently, could hurt him more than help him.
Darrell West, Vice President and Director of Governance Studies of the Brookings Institution, said this on Friday in Washington.
He said that the recent days have seen Trump ramping up on the insults against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, even referring to her as “the devil.
“But while experts said the brash businessman should be focusing on Clinton’s policy blunders, he continues to engage simply in name calling.
“Trump’s insults reinforce the perception that he is ill-tempered and not well-suited for the presidency,” he said.
West advised that it would make more sense for Trump to criticize her policies rather than calling her names.
“That would help him argue that she has a failed vision and shouldn’t be elected to the highest office in the land.
He noted that the `U.S. voters are more accepting of differences on the issues because that is a legitimate part of electoral discourse.
West said that Trump has gone too far and makes himself look bad in the process.
“Indeed, critics say Trump’s major fault is that he’s still preaching to the choir, the blue colour white males who put him through the primaries, with whom Trump struck a chord by what has at times been over-the-top comments.
“But now that Trump’s already got the white working class men’s vote in the bag, analysts say he should be broadening his horizons,’’ he said.
West said that Trump needs to understand that appealing to a general electorate of 130 million people is different than a Republican primary audience of 20 million people.
“The former requires a different style of argumentation than the latter.
The Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, supporters noted that one of the issues Trump might focus on is Clinton’s recent email scandal, which overshadowed last week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
They pointed that Clinton has also been embroiled in another controversy in recent weeks, the leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee.
The supporters said that it showed that it tried to tip the scales in favour of Clinton to win against her opponents, mainly Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, in the primaries.
Sanders’ supporters said the email scandal showed that the Democratic Party rigged the system to allow Clinton to unfairly grab the party’s nomination for president.
Christopher Galdieri, Assistant Professor at Saint Anselm College, said that Trump is not converting anyone with his insulting attacks on Clinton.
“It appeals to his primary voters but they are already with him. It doesn’t help him with sceptical Republicans.
Galdieri said Clinton’s best move is to give Trump ample room to keep shooting himself in the foot, while she keeps being a steady hand.
“In this regard I think picking Tim Kaine, an amiably boring and experienced figure from a key state, will prove to be one of the smartest moves of her campaign.
Julian Zelizer, Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, said that there is nothing Trump is doing now that is working very well.
She noted that Clinton’s polls are getting better, more Republicans are saying they would vote for Clinton, and the media has really turned against Trump in a significant way.
He said Clinton doesn’t have to constantly respond to Trump’s insults because this will provide voters “with a feel of stability and steadiness.”