Tim Clark was hired as the Trump Western Region Coordinator. There was never any public indication that had changed to just California after the RNC, but that is what I was told had happened. After August, there were a series of operatives in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and otherwise.
Mr. Clark had advocated for the termination of at least one of my friends from the Ben Carson team that came over to Trump after Carson suspended his campaign (who ended up getting fired) and also was less than ethical in his dealings with another Carson alum, attempting to shortchange a previously negotiated deal. These are consistent with the Tim Clark patterns from several campaigns I have seen him on – he takes them over and runs out everyone that was there. It is also consistent to see him attempt to reduce and/or shortchange deals after the fact with campaign operatives. Clark’s behavior was part of a string of anecdotes I gathered from friends across the west.
While Clark was overseeing a brain drain in Nevada and other parts of the West, the groundwork was being laid for the stunning trump victory in the rust belt.
The media was abuzz that team Trump was making a play for New Mexico. The Trump campaign had a revered Navajo Code Talker on their side and had made several stops in New Mexico.
It turns out that the real focus was on Utah and Arizona. In Utah, Trump had suffered the most damage from the Billy Bush tape. Republican voters tend to be reactionary and the typical 1990’s liberal democrat playbook was at work to play on that. Many so-called values voters in Utah were completely distracted from Hillary Clinton’s corruption and desire to end religious freedom and instead were on a pious rampage to support Evan McMullin.
Insiders were telling me that the gambit was if Gary Johnson could win New Mexico or Evan McMullin could win Utah then the electoral college could punt Trump and elect one of them.
Fortunately for America, McMullin folded like a cheap lawn chair as Republican voters returned home in droves. Unfortunately democrats did too and Gary Johnson collapsed in Colorado and New Mexico, failing to reach double digits in the final tally in either state.
Nevada was a disaster. Joe Heck bailed out on Donald Trump after the Billy Bush tape and refused to re-endorse Mr. Trump. I did a short-term job for Mr. Heck and made my opinion on this matter known to the campaign. I am of the belief that the decision was the difference maker in his loss.
Beyond Mr. Clark’s treatment of my friends in the Carson Campaign, his failure to do his job was most evident in Nevada. I saw no one from California in Washoe County when I was there. The Trump effort was almost all volunteer. The Heck Campaign, Trump Campaign and the RNC were on separate missions and were not working together. The Heck office I was in was around the corner from the Washoe County GOP HQ and I still remember the dirty looks I was getting as they drove by the office. (I’ve still never met most of the people that were glaring at me)
You would think that a Trump California Chairman who lives about 95 miles from Reno (Washoe County) would be interested in getting bodies up the hill to help. I guess not as nothing other than token efforts were made.
Nevada was the biggest failure of the Trump campaign beyond California. The RCP average had Trump up .8%. Trump lost by 2.4%. Yes, there was indeed registration fraud in Clark County, but not enough to account for 3.2 points.
In addition, the GOP got slaughtered at the state level in Nevada. Why? in 2014, when they won big – the first act of the next legislative session was a massive tax increase. What a way to use your majority. So – the lack of a team effort, public betrayal of the GOP’s Presidential Nominee, Tim Clark and Tax Increases were the Nevada Toxic Cocktail.
Trump lost Colorado. The stories I heard from there were pretty bad as well. It is clear that the best operatives for the RNC and the Trump campaign were in the Eastern US.
The RCP average had Hitlary up 2.9 in CO, she won by 4.9.
The RCP average had Hitlary up 5.0 in NM, she won by 8.3 (a bigger swing by .1 than Nevada)
George Soros spent $35 Million taking out the 84 year old Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The dems got mexicans to vote in record numbers with fear of deportation being the biggest motivator. This and the issues trump had with Mormons caused the margin in Arizona to shrink to 3.5% (Romney won by 9.1 in 2012). This will invite big dem spending in 2020 in AZ, even though Trump beat the race card.
In the final analysis – New Mexico was a distraction. Hitlary was forced to spend money in NM. It is possible that the Trump campaign decided to do the bare minimum to keep AZ from flipping dem despite the $45 million spent there on the aggregate by the left.
The disaster of the west, however was one of organization. There was none. Given how close Nevada was, it was winnable. Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona were very poor results. This was the one area of the country that was not kind to Donald Trump at all and further serious analysis needs to be given to it in order to advance in 2018 and beyond.
Sign up to receive RightOnDaily updates sent to your inbox.
Excellent Article Sir!
I agree that this was a very thoughtful blog – I agree to the lack of organization in the West – here in our own California there wasn’t even an attempt at getting out the vote or even a modicum of excitement – all that I witnesses was all organic.
You are correct that the GOP needs to do more work in “the West” before 2020, or even 2018 for that matter – GOP takes that lightly at their own peril!