Slowing down, easily influenced and likely to say something ‘crazy’: Strategists on Trump’s campaign struggles

Donald Trump is slowing down on campaign rallies — but doesn’t want to admit it.

The former president faces a difficult race against Vice President Kamala Harris,who is gaining on her Republican rival with a 2.4 lead in an average of recent national polls. Despite this, he appears to be slowing down his campaign events.

The Washington Post reports that Trump held 22 rallies from July 1 to August 10, 2016. During that same time frame this year, Trump held just eight.

While Trump often speaks with local media outlets in swing states and gives interviews to “friendly” national media organizations like Fox News, the slowdown in events is beginning to raise questions regarding his campaign strategy.

Last week, a reporter asked the former president why he wasn’t campaigning more during a meandering press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump responded by calling the question “stupid.”

Now, campaign experts tell The Independent this slowdown in campaign rallies is likely the product of several factors — including his unpredictability on stage and off-putting theories that could turn off swing voters.

Trump’s campaign could be strategically limiting the number of live rallies as a form of damage control, Evan Siegfried, a political strategist who previously worked on GOP campaigns, told The Independent.

The less he’s seen in public and at rallies, Siegfried said, the fewer opportunities there are for him to “riff and go off script” to spread conspiracy theories and grievances.

“The real people who are going to choose this election are in seven states, and they represent a very thin swath of the entire electorate in this country,” Siegfried said.

These falsehoods and grievances, such as Trump’s baseless claim that Harris