As Wikileaks proved in 2016, Trump got as far as he did because the Clinton campaign actively forced the media to push him as the Republican contender. They just thought it would be easier to win against a fringe candidate like him.
@josemanuel her campaign also stopped targeting Michigan and went to Iowa instead. While her team there was floundering, no "go and vote" messaging, they thought Detroit would save them
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547
@asensohn Absolutely true. By portraying Trump as a fringe, far-right candidate, she thought she would get the moderate Republican vote (hence her choice of VP) while neglecting to secure the progressive one that she lost when she rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders. Most stupid strategy ever.
@asensohn I'm not entirely sure that's what he was, but it is what he ended up being, mostly because he saw how taking all those who HRC called ‘deplorables’ under his wing was a winning strategy (at least in 2016).
@josemanuel Well he demonized immigrants as rapists and drug-dealers in the speech in which he announced his candidacy. Alex Jones was his first media appearance if my memory is correct. I think he found his "niche" before announcing the candidacy and only got more overt.
@josemanuel i mean portraying him as a far-right candidate wasn't wrong, that's what he is. But I guess she thought too highly of the republican voter base and thought she could flip them and that's why she went to the red states at the end and neglected what would become key states.