Donald Trump has never faced more pressure on the national stage than he will Thursday evening when he accepts the Republican nomination.
This week’s Republican National Convention has been dominated by unexpected fireworks ranging from the plagiarized speech his wife delivered and the way the campaign prolonged the episode to Ted Cruz’s shocking address Wednesday in which he refused to endorse Trump and encouraged Americans to vote their conscience. Cruz’s speech exposed the deep divisions that remain in the party after the fractious primary.
But beyond the Cleveland drama, Trump faces a more difficult long-term challenge: fashioning a message that can at once soothe concerns among scores of independent women while still firing up the white men who are angry about the direction of the country.
The trouble: Trump hasn’t really even begun that task yet.
During a convention that so far has been dominated by red meat issues and heated attacks on Hillary Clinton, Trump has yet to show how he can appeal to the broader general election audience, particularly women, by proving that he would be a reliable commander-in-chief.
That leaves Trump with a critical balancing act when he takes the stage Thursday: how much time and energy to spend slamming Clinton versus presenting a positive case for himself.
(CNN)
