Fox News host Chris Wallace bluntly asked Donald Trump on Sunday if he was “blowing” his campaign after a spat of negative headlines the past two weeks, to which Trump responded, “I don’t think so.”
Over the past two weeks, Trump courted controversy by retweeting an flattering photo of rival Ted Cruz’s wife, suggested there should be “punishment” for women who have abortions, made eyebrow-raising remarks about nuclear weapons, and saw his campaign manager charged with simple battery.
“This may sound harsh, but are you in the process of blowing your campaign for president?” Wallace asked.
“I don’t think so,” Trump said.
The GOP frontrunner reminded Wallace that rumors of his campaign’s demise had been consistent among the talking class since his candidacy began last June. However, Trump has seen his lead vanish in the Wisconsin polls over the past month, and his favorability numbers have hit staggering lows, particularly among women.
“I just got great polls from NBC nationwide,” Trump said. “I think that we’re doing very well. Don’t forget you have been thinking about that or asking me that question numerous times … ‘He just blew his campaign,’ only to end up having higher poll numbers.”
Wallace reminded Trump of his love of discussing polls, bringing up the massive swing in Wisconsin over the past month. He led Cruz by 11 points there in February, but now trails by 10 points, a 21-point swing. Wisconsin’s primary is Tuesday.
“If you had purposely set out to turn off voters, especially women voters, over the last two weeks, I”m not sure you could have done a better job,” Wallace said.
Trump admitted the “retweet” was not wise, something he discussed at length with the New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd in a column published Saturday.
“All I can do is do what I do,” Trump said. “I’m self-funding my campaign … I think I’m doing very well. Was this my best week? I guess not. I could have done without the retweet, et cetera, et cetera, but I think I’m doing OK.”
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