GOP candidates scrambling as Trump's tricks fall flat for them

Republican candidates seeking to tap into the energy that Donald Trump brings to his public appearances are finding it near impossible to emulate his style, leaving them scrambling for new ways to engage voters.

According to a report from Politico's Calder McHugh, Donald Trump's speeches are larded with riffs, jokes, barbs and applause lines that hit the mark with his MAGA fans and immediately go viral. GOP candidates are quickly finding out that what works for Trump, a natural showman after years on TV, looks easier to do than it actually is.

"Throughout the hundreds of rallies in the Trump era, the former president honed a style that is perfectly pitched to his supporters: a wink and a nod at some of his more outlandish ideas, sandwiched between humor and charisma to soften his rhetoric," the report from Politico before adding, " Even many of his harshest critics will admit that he’s funny. His imitators are not."

Case in point: his new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) who replaced former VP Mike Pence (R-IN) on the ticket this go-around.

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Vance's curious attempt to make a joke this week about racism out of his drinking Diet Mountain Dew not only fell flat with the crowd, but became fodder for late-night comedians and social media critics who noted his extreme awkwardness. And things have not gotten better for him since.

As McHugh wrote, "But what’s striking about the moment — and much of the rest of the rally, in which Vance clumsily tried to joke about local Middletown hot spots before launching into various grievances against Democrats — is how much it sounded like a cheap imitation of a Trump rally."

The report notes that Vance is not alone, citing Gov. Ron DeSantis' humiliating bid to unseat Trump as the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee that exposed him nationally as a horrible speaker on the stump which led to his campaign crashing and burning after blowing through millions in campaign donations.

"But what’s distinct about the Trump imitators is that without the humor, all that’s left is the grievance politics, which turns off at least some voters," Politico's McHugh wrote before adding, "It’s an interesting puzzle."

"Many of Trump’s ideas are largely unpopular with voters; without his charisma, his ideological allies are left with policy positions like abortion bans that most Americans don’t really like. It’s Trump’s personality that keeps him happily ensconced at the head of the party. The result is that candidates like Vance up and down state ballots try to build on Trump’s political legacy without being able to capture his personal one," the report adds.

You can read more here.