NEW YORK: Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is standing in decline and has failed to deliver on frequent promises to follow a more traditional campaign, said political experts said on talk shows on Sunday.

With the elections 140 days away, his supporters are anxious. There have been many complaints about Trump and his team from the people who were sceptical of his campaign from day one.

After his personal tax returns were scrutinised by the press, it was learnt that Mr Trump reportedly paid little to no taxes for at least two years during the early 1990s, according to one newspaper report citing records obtained from the New Jersey gambling authorities.

Last week before the Orlando mass shooting took over the news, Republicans involved in key Senate races were sounding the alarm about the impact of Trump’s attacks on a federal judge overseeing the Trump University fraud case. GOP strategists and allies working the Senate races in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin all reported a drop in Trump’s standing.

In Ohio, according to a well-placed GOP source, Trump fell from a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton to minus 10 points.

Each of those Senate races has its unique dynamics, and some of the incumbents are more vulnerable than others. So far, though, the strategists say there is no automatic “Trump effect,” meaning the incumbents do not necessarily drop when Trump does.

They are worried nonetheless, readily conceding that if Trump loses their state by more than three to five points it will be difficult for the incumbent not to get swept away.

A Republican party official told CNN that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a conversation with Trump last weekend, made the point that Trump’s trajectory had a direct connection to Senate GOP hopes of protecting their majority.

Top allies of McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have made clear their priority is protecting the congressional majorities, and that they have little faith any money sent Trump’s way will be spent on anything other than helping Trump. 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney is also in the “Never Trump” camp and has made clear to his deep fundraising network he thinks it best that money be directed to those who are focusing on House and Senate races.

According to one report at a big fundraising meeting in New York last week, there were mixed opinions. Several GOP donors left impressed and were more open to the unorthodox style of the party’s presumptive nominee. Others bemoaned a lack of discipline and airing worries that Trump and his team grossly underestimate the amount of resources they will need to be competitive.

Several participants said it was made clear at the meeting that it will take time to raise significant resources for Trump and Republican National Committee joint efforts, and that a short-term infusion from the candidate himself would be helpful.

‘More racial profiling’

Reuters adds: Trump said on Sunday the United States should consider more racial profiling in law enforcement, after urging harsher policies following last week’s mass shooting in Orlando.

“I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump said when asked on CBS whether he supported more profiling of Muslims in America.

“You look at Israel and you look at others, and they do it and they do it successfully. And you know, I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense,” he added.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has drawn criticism from many in his party for his comments on American Muslims after the Orlando attack, in which a US born Muslim man killed 49 people at a gay nightclub.

Trump also reiterated his support for more scrutiny of mosques, saying that could resemble a controversial New York City surveillance programme that has been shut down.

“If you go to France right now, they’re doing it in France. In fact, in some instances they’re closing down mosques.” Police in France closed some mosques shortly after gunmen aligned with Islamic State militants killed 130 people in Paris in a series of attacks on Nov 13.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2016