A supporter hold up an anti-Trump sign before being removed from a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S., August 13, 2016. (REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin)
by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- While his bombastic rhetoric helped him win the Republican primaries, analysts said time is running out for U.S. Republican nominee Donald Trump to start acting more "presidential" in order to win the presidential race.
There have been too many occasions in the past months in which when people just thought that Trump turned a corner and started toning down his bombast, the brash billionaire would quickly again begin making comments perceived as incendiary to many outside his base.
Recent weeks have seen many ups and downs for the candidate. His recent speech on the U.S. economy last week saw a more mature, statesman-like Trump, but days later he was back to his old self, calling rival Hillary Clinton "the devil" and dubbing U.S. President Barack Obama "the founder" of terror group Islamic State (IS).
While such statements play well with his base, the brash billionaire needs to start reaching out to others, many of whom don't like to hear such comments, analysts pointed out.
While the bombastic real estate tycoon was just a hair ahead in the polls a few weeks back, he is now dragging several points behind Clinton, and will have to start showing a more temperate side of himself to catch up.
But the clock is ticking toward the election in November, and while there's still time to turn things around, the window is slowly beginning to shut.
Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that it's not too late for the polls to change.
"That said, the data is pretty devastating and the trajectory is moving the wrong way for him," Zelizer said.
Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that at this point Trump would have to stop being Trump and "demonstrate some level of statesmanship."
"The telepromptered speech in Detroit was supposed to be the beginning of that process - a reset," he said, referring to Trump's speech on the U.S. economy early last week, in which he refrained from making any rash comments and showed a more presidential side of himself.
But the comments that Trump made later in speeches at the subsequent campaign rallies completely negated that. Trump indirectly called on gun advocates to stop Clinton, and even dubbed President Obama and Clinton as co-founders of IS.
Indeed, Trump's original appeal was that he'd "tell it like it is" to the political elite, and that carried enough of a populist electorate through the Republican Party primaries.
"That core group of supporters will stay with him and continue to see him standing up to the status quo. However, for much of the electorate, Trump's 'telling it like it is' is seen as a dangerous, temperamental, thin-skinned, and combative personality that is unfit for the White House," Mahaffee said.
Every time it appears that Trump is going to try to get out of this course and change the aforementioned perception, he follows it up with statements that completely negate any potential momentum upward, Mahaffee noted.
There is still plenty of time left in the campaign, but one cannot help but wonder if Trump can really change his course to try to build a majority to win the presidency, he said.
