Report: Trump, RNC Back for Couples Therapy

Via Politico:

Donald Trump’s campaign and top Republican Party officials plan what one person called a “come to Jesus” meeting on Friday in Orlando to discuss the Republican nominee’s struggling campaign, according to multiple sources familiar with the scheduled sit-down.

Though a campaign source dismissed it as a “typical” gathering, others described it as a more serious meeting, with one calling it an “emergency meeting.” It comes at a time of mounting tension between the campaign and the Republican National Committee, which is facing pressure to pull the plug on Trump’s campaign and redirect party funds down ballot to protect congressional majorities endangered by Trump’s candidacy.

The request for the Orlando Ritz Carlton meeting originated with Trump’s campaign, according to a source familiar with the broad details, and is being viewed by RNC officials as a sign that the campaign has come to grips with the difficulty it is having in maintaining a message and running a ground game.

“They want to patch up a rift that just keeps unfolding,” one source said. “They finally realize they need the RNC for their campaign because, let’s face it, there is no campaign.”

Another person familiar with the meeting, a Republican operative who works with the campaign, said the planned gathering was “a come-to-Jesus meeting.” That source said that many Trump campaign staffers share the party officials’ frustrations with Trump’s penchant for self-sabotaging rhetoric. “What’s bothering people on the campaign is that they feel like they’re doing all the right things, but they’re losing every news cycle to Hillary and there’s nothing they can do about it.”

If people in the campaign are, in fact, “doing all the right things” it isn’t readily apparent and that can’t all be blamed on Trump’s off-message moments.

There has been some play-nice-together functionality between Team Trump and the RNC in the area of fundraising. They’ve got some money now and are preparing to spend it. None of that will matter if Trump keeps giving the MSM freebies to obsess over. This doesn’t mean that the media should get a pass, but we all know that this part of the game is actually rigged, and it doesn’t help to make it easier for them.

Trump doesn’t need to change completely, he just needs to tone it down somewhat. Bad news and rumors continue to plague Hillary Clinton, and all Trump needs to do is focus on those. If they can craft even a loose message with a couple of those cutesy catch phrases that his ardent supporters mistake for “fighting” he may be able to stay on it long enough to force the press to look her way again.

All of this is predicated on RNC officials being able to expressly convey a strategy that will not only get through to Trump, but to make him embrace it.

So good luck with all of that…