Donald Trump Had a Tough Week, and Not Just Because of the Debate

Donald Trump has just had a “week to forget” that “may have caused irreparable damage to his campaign,” according to one prominent political scientist. The past seven days have seen Kamala Harris re-emerge as the favorite to win in November with leading bookmakers.
On Tuesday Trump faced off against Harris at a presidential debate in Philadelphia, with 63 percent of viewers concluding the Democratic candidate got the better of the former president according to a CNN flash poll. Almost immediately after the debate finished Harris was endorsed by singing megastar Taylor Swift, which one academic forecast could have a “big impact” on the upcoming election.
During the debate Trump sparked controversy by repeating discredited rumors that migrants had been eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio. He said: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The story began as a Facebook post from a resident who claimed their neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat, and later found it hanging from a tree near where a Haitian lived. However Springfield police and city officials said they weren’t aware of any credible reports of pets being stolen and eaten, by migrants or anyone else.
This week also saw oil prices hitting a three-year low, while on Wednesday the national average gasoline price was about $3.25 per gallon, down from $3.45 a month earlier. On Thursday a federal appeals court decided not to move Trump’s hush money case from a New York state court as his legal team had been seeking. In May Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors said he did to facilitate the payment of hush money to a former adult actor, though the former president continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Trump’s MAGA movement has suffered from infighting over the past few days, with House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene accusing Florida activist Laura Loomer of making “appalling and extremely racist” remarks. It came after Loomer launched a racially charged attack on Harris, who has Indian heritage, claiming the “White House will smell like curry” if she wins in November.
Speaking to Newsweek Dafydd Townley, who teaches American politics at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., said: “Trump has had a week to forget. It’s been a week that may have caused irreparable damage to his campaign. However, his popularity has been in decline since his appointment of [J.D.] Vance and he has struggled to find the energy in his campaign that Harris and [Tim] Walz have.”
Mark Shanahan, a political scientist who teaches at the U.K.’s University of Surrey, added: “This has been a terrible week for Donald Trump. He has allowed Kamala Harris rent-free space in his head (with a Taylor Swift soundtrack). Rather than being the story that everyone reacts to—the successful model he put in place in 2015—he has spent the week reacting to Harris headlines and trying to reset the narrative.
“As Harris has seen green shoots of economic recovery, exemplified this week by falling gas prices, Trump’s campaign has appeared ever-more a freak show of the mad and the bad. He’s still in this race and may well be winning, but more weeks like this will seriously damage any chance he has of returning to the White House.”
Similar concerns were raised by Cassidy Reller, an associate professor at the University of Florida who specializes in American elections and political institutions.
In an interview with Newsweek he said: “In terms of Trump’s bad week, it’s been a bad week. If we ignore debates that political scientists traditionally say do not matter, although we learned in June they do. The endorsement from Taylor Swift could motivate low-propensity voters to vote.
“Many young people are not engaged with politics but are engaged with Taylor; the surge of over 400,000 people following her link and registering to vote is a sign of that. Trump kept trying to vaguely court Taylor, and it was a blow to him that she explicitly endorsed a candidate instead of sitting out the election like she did in 2016. Especially given that she emphasized in her Instagram post issues that Trump is not popular on, like women’s and LGTBQ+ rights.
“Gas prices are one of the most salient prices voters see daily; they are a good benchmark for the typical person on the direction of inflation, even if they are not the most accurate one.”
However Thomas Gift, who heads the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London, noted polls remain “razor tight” and said Trump could “rebound.”
Speaking to Newsweek he said: “Trump’s lost the momentum. There’s no doubt about that. Compared to a few weeks ago, when Trump was on top of the political world and Biden was still the nominee, Trump is in the doldrums.
“Still, we all know that Trump has nine lives—and then some. Any predictions that point to his political demise, still months out from the election, are premature. Trump had a bad week. But the polls still show a razor-tight race. As Harris is subjected to more scrutiny on her policy positions, no one should be surprised if Trump rebounds. As long as Trump has a stranglehold on the MAGA base, he has a chance to retake the White House.”
The latest analysis of recent polling by election website FiveThirtyEight, released on September 13, gave Harris a 2.8 point lead over Trump with 48.2 percent of the vote against his 45.4 percent. However, due to the Electoral College system Trump could lose the popular vote in November and still win overall, as he did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.
In better news for Trump this week it became clear his Georgia election interference case remains bogged down, with Fulton County District Attorney on Friday skipping a Georgia State Senate hearing into misconduct allegations against her.
The controversy began when it emerged Willis had been involved in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to handle Trump’s case, though he later stepped down. In response Trump’s legal team is attempting to get Willis removed from the case.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of the 2024 Donald Trump presidential campaign for comment via email.