By Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- After getting a thrashing from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on the debate stage Monday night, Republican candidate Donald Trump is attempting to make a comeback with a new slogan: "follow the money."
The slogan is Trump's effort to go back on the offensive, as experts say the brash billionaire needs to make the election a referendum about Clinton, and as such needs to take all media and public focus off himself.
The slogan is a jab at Clinton's alleged corruption, and specifically her widely-reported pay-for-play scheme, whereby high-rolling donors to her Clinton Foundation were allegedly given special access to her while she was secretary of state in the first term of President Barack Obama.
"Everything you need to know about Hillary Clinton can be understood with this simple phrase -- follow the money," Trump said on the campaign trail earlier this week, in a soundbite that media has been airing over and over in the past couple of days.
"Trump's new slogan is an attempt to reestablish some of the momentum he gets from being seen as an outsider to Wall Street, Washington, and other parts of the establishment," Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that the slogan represents an effort by Trump to change the conversation.
"The last week has not gone well for Trump. He performed terribly in the presidential debate and has struggled to regain the initiative," West said.
"His 'follow the money' angle is promising although it also opens himself up to the same type of scrutiny about his business dealings. The more he questions (Clinton's) fundraising, the more attention will get paid to Trump' businesses and charitable foundation," West said.
Indeed, Trump needs to reestablish his momentum after losing the Monday debate, in which he allowed Clinton to rattle his cage and get under his skin, experts said. The Republican nominee will have to fight hard in the coming weeks if he wants to clinch the White House.
Trump missed a number of opportunities in the debate, such as talking about the economy, the No. 1 issue of concern for Americans and an area in which the billionaire businessman has an advantage.
Trump repeatedly took the bait that Clinton laid out to make Trump seem less presidential as well as bringing up questions about Trump's leadership as both a businessman and a presidential candidate.
With Clinton beating him, Trump needs to reestablish the momentum that he had enjoyed as he began to appear more acceptable as a candidate.
"In the next debate, Trump needs to reassure voters that he can handle the presidency. He still is struggling to pass that basic threshold of acceptability for many Americans," West said.
But despite Trump's trouble in Monday's debate, that doesn' mean his campaign is dead. Former Republican candidate Mitt Romney beat Obama in their first debate in 2012, only to end up losing the elections.
"Versus Trump, Clinton importantly won both the policy points and the perception points. Trump will need to be far more prepared and far more even tempered in the coming debates," Mahaffee said.
The second and third presidential debates are slated to be held separately on Oct. 9 in St. Louis, Missouri and on Oct. 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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