S.E. Cupp: Glitchy streams, migrant memes and stupid themes — Trump’s playbook is a mess

On Monday afternoon, former President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was on Fox Business discussing the state of Trump’s campaign with former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow.

Conway was pointed in criticizing Trump’s attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, which have centered on everything from her intelligence to her race. “The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Conway said, the first woman to run a winning presidential campaign. “It’s fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast.”

Since President Biden dropped off the Democratic ticket and Harris stepped on, Trump’s 2.0 campaign has been plagued by unforced errors, lackluster messaging, whiffed attempts at defining her, lame name-calling and embarrassing contrasts in enthusiasm and momentum.

He’s tried, for some inexplicable reason, litigating her race, suggesting she only recently “happened to turn Black.”

He’s tried insulting her competence and her intelligence.

If recent polls are any indication, none of this is working to boost Trump’s campaign, especially in the all-important swing states, where Harris keeps getting better and better news.

Like the latest Cook Report, which has Harris up or tied with Trump in all but one swing state.

Or the recent New York Times/Siena College poll, showing Harris is tightening the margins with one of Trump’s core constituencies — white working-class voters in swing states.

But despite Conway’s nudges, as well as mounting criticism from other Republicans like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and even Peter “Pimp Ladies” Navarro, Trump seems determined to avoid real policy arguments.

What’s surprising — and likely infuriating for many Republicans up for reelection in down-ballot races — is that there are plenty of policy areas to go after.

Trump and Vance have attempted to pin the migrant crisis at the border on Harris but thus far haven’t successfully pressured her to answer for her role inside the Biden administration.

They’ve hammered the economy, with Trump even predicting a looming depression, but not to any visible impact on her numbers.

But they’ve ignored some obvious low-hanging fruit when it comes to Walz, a huge missed opportunity to put the new Dem ticket on defense.

First, abortion. While Republicans are rightly painted as extremists on women’s reproductive rights — representing only a fringe minority of voters who want abortion completely banned — Minnesota’s laws are outside the mainstream, too.

A new statute in Minnesota does not include any specific prohibitions on abortion on any stage of pregnancy. A majority of voters believe abortion should be legal, with some restrictions, including on weeks. A majority of abortion rights supporters say how long a woman has been pregnant should matter in determining legality, and support for legal abortion diminishes at later stages of pregnancy.

On taxes — remember taxes? Republicans used to care about them. A lot. Minnesota’s got the highest corporate tax rate in the U.S. The highest! It’s also got the sixth highest individual income tax top rate. It seems like this might matter to people.

How about a meme or a riff on any of this stuff? Do Walz and Harris want to make America more like Minnesota? It’s a fair question that neither have had to answer because Trump prefers doling out dumb nicknames to drilling down on policy contrasts.

Whether he just doesn’t care about the policy, or he’s too old and tired to get substantive and specific, his campaign is suffering because he refuses to take it — and voters — seriously.

And they’re responding in kind.