The real problem.....

We’re trapped in a twisted time. The latest Fox News’ poll showed Trump dropping – so did half a dozen other polls last week. That wasn’t a shock. But in the next breath a stumble reared its head: The media pointed at practical but paper-thin explanations for Trump’s decline.

Years ago, Arthur Finkelstein, an unusual genius, dropped a poll on my desk, looked from me to Tom Ellis, growled lips set, It’s time you two learned something new.

In those days I thought what mattered in elections were issues. But after hammering Jesse Helms’ opponent on issues for a year – and getting nowhere – I was about to learn a lesson.

Back then taxes, deficit spending, standing up to the Soviet Union, were political issues that mattered – I didn’t think foibles like cheating on your wife, stealing from your friends, lying to get ahead, moral questions about character, mattered in elections.

Until Arthur pointed to a simple fact: Even when a voter agreed with a candidate on issues, if he saw that candidate as crooked or untrustworthy he won’t vote for him.

Voters saw Jesse as mean. That was a character problem. And issues couldn’t save him. How we overcame that is a long, complicated story.

But now, in an odd way, we’re watching history repeat itself.

In an article picking apart those polls a reporter, locking eyes on two issues, said Trump’s “cratering” because his stands on immigration and the economy are unpopular.

But when people staring at Trump shake their heads it’s not because he deports illegal immigrants – it’s because he ignores count orders to do it. And that’s a character problem.

Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen flew down to El Salvador – the next day a video of him sitting at a table in a prison with Abrego Gracia blanketed TV, newspapers, social media; that video showing Van Hollen sitting with an illegal immigrant made his trip about an issue: Immigration. A reporter asked Van Hollen if Garcia was an MS-13 gang member – but never asked the question that mattered: Was Trump wrong when he disobeyed a court order?

Van Hollen handed Trump a gift. Because Trump wins an issues fight on immigration. But loses a character fight about throwing court orders out the window.

Trump’s landed in a hard place but knows it and he’ll pivot to escape. Will a pivot save him? Yes. It can. Unless the media figures out character is Trump’s Achilles’ heel.

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Telling stories, in his memoir Carter Wrenn follows The Trail of the Serpent twisting and turning through politics from Reagan to Trump. Order his book from Amazon.