Donald Trump appears to be facing a significant surrogate deficit in a general election battle against Hillary Clinton.
The challenge Trump faces came to the forefront this week as President Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made headlines with their endorsements of Clinton.
{mosads}This summer and into the fall, Clinton promises to send the president, first lady Michelle Obama and Warren on the road. All three could be important battleground surrogates for her campaign.
Former President Bill Clinton will also hit the road for his wife, and Vice President Biden has indicated that he will be on the stump. It’s not clear whether Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will join the onslaught, though Democrats certainly hope he’ll be in the fold.
Trump, in contrast, can promise few notable names.
Over the last year, the presumptive presidential nominee has feuded with his party’s last two standard-bearers, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Neither is expected to campaign for him.
Trump has also feuded with the Bush family and GOP stars Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both of whom he defeated in the primary.
Clinton campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson took to Twitter on Thursday to highlight the expected lack of support for Trump from former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
“Last two Democratic presidents now support [the] Democratic nominee,” Ferguson tweeted. “Last two Republican presidents DON’T support [the] Republican nominee.”
It’s possible Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) will help Trump, but both criticized the GOP candidate this week, and each will be focused on keeping a majority in his chamber of Congress.
“It’s a problem. It’s a huge problem,” said Republican strategist and columnist for The Hill John Feehery, who says he will support Trump. “He’s a nonpolitician and that’s been appealing to many people but there are some basics that every campaign needs to have and one is that you have to drive a message. Without a message, it’s hard to have a surrogate operation.”
Trump’s best surrogates could be New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose ratings are underwater in his own state, stalwart conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Trump family members, such as his daughter Ivanka Trump.
In an email, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the billionaire businessman will have a host of campaign surrogates.
“We have many such [surrogates] such as Governor Chris Christie, Senator Jeff Sessions, Former Speaker Newt Gingrich and many more,” she said.
Yet it is hard to see that trio outgunning the Democratic stars that Clinton can send out on her behalf.
Sessions is a conservative favorite who is popular with grassroots Republicans, but whether he can extend Trump’s appeal is unclear.
And Gingrich has irked Trump with some of his remarks.
This week, he went off script, calling Trump’s racially charged comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel “inexcusable.”
And in a Facebook Live segment, he said Clinton’s speech on Tuesday night was “spectacular” and “very effective.”
Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who served as an adviser to Romney during his presidential bid, called Trump’s surrogates “the Trump Green Room brigade.”
He argued too many of Trump’s supporters are relying on the candidate’s Twitter feed to figure out what to say.
“They’re like independent contractors,” said Madden, who is not supporting Trump. “And it’s not a seamless and coordinated response. It’s a mishmash” of comments.