How Donald Trump's damage control makes things harder for his party
Trump sought to rally the Republican party's base with a barrage of provocative attacks on Hillary Clinton, to give the media something other than the tape to talk about
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump may have done just enough in Sunday’s presidential debate to keep his leaky presidential campaign afloat — and that may have put Republicans considering abandoning him in an even tougher position.Had Trump imploded, it is likely that the flow of legislators and party luminaries who deserted him at the weekend over lewd comments he made about women on a videotape would have become a torrent, increasing demands for him to drop out of the race.But that did not happen. Now, Republicans who have seen their party torn apart by Trump’s candidacy are once again faced with a familiar dilemma: publicly abandon a badly wounded candidate who is endangering closely contested congressional races, or stand behind him in the dimming hope that he can still win them the White House.The Manhattan real-estate mogul delivered a feistier and more disciplined performance than at the first debate, hammering his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, on her use of a private e-mail s...
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