Fixing what's wrong

Hillary and Trump each have brand problems.    Crooked Hillary and Un-Presidential Trump.

Trump and Sanders each worked tirelessly to define Hillary as a woman deeply entrenched in the modern political system, with alliances and loyalties, old and new friends, and donor connections.   They allowed Hillary to thrive in that system and that is her weakness.   Sanders calls it a corrupt system; Trump calls her "Crooked Hillary."

Hillary--and now Obama, Warren, and Sanders--are describing Trump as a selfish, immature con man whose off the cuff race-baiting and disruption trade and foreign policy make him "un-presidential" and therefore disqualified for office.

Hillary is at work attempting to repair her brand, with ads harkening back to younger times projecting her lifetime of service as evidence of sincerity and integrity.  She cites the Children's Defense Fund, her struggle to create a health care system.   Yes, she is "in the system" but the history lesson shows her to be a "progressive fighter for the weak, within the system."   This re-defines her, from predator to defender of the powerless--an embattled knight, yes, but a white-hat-wearing-knight.

The battle of brand meaning goes back and forth because today Trump is accelerating the Crooked Hillary attack, with the long awaited announcements about sources of Hillary personal income and Clinton Foundation income.   She is only as good as her donors--a charge leveled by Trump and Sanders both--because she is captured by those donors, they assert.

Trump just pushed "reset".  Now he can change.

Trump's burden is that the very things which made him newsworthy--his unpredictability, his apparently unfiltered outrageous comments, his political incorrectness--document the criticism of his brand, that he is unfit for office.   But Trump has just done the two things that are archetypal Trump.    He has done something dramatic--fire his campaign manager--thus very publicly "pushing reset" which allow him to change direction and tone.  

And he is going on the attack, with a counter punch.    The story was "Trump Campaign in Disarray", which helped prove Hillary's point, since if Trump is so unfit he cannot manage a presidential campaign he cannot manage a country.   And Trump going on the attack shifts the story from Trump's problems to Hillary's.

Today is an inflection point for the change:  the new phase of the campaign.  Lewandowski is gone.  The news on cable TV, as I type, is hyping the upcoming announcement: Trump to attack Hillary, stay tuned!   The Orlando shooting delayed this Trump charge but the wait is over.  Trump attacks his opponent--it's breaking news!

Theoretically Trump has the easier job.  It is in Trump's power to appear more steady, more mature, more safe.   You can fix erratic immaturity with steady maturity.   He could stop ad lib comments that offend even his GOP supporters.   He could be "presidential."    Literature has prepared us for the transition: youthful Prince Hal under the sway of Falstaff grows into King Henry, the great leader of his country. 
  

Immaturity is easier to fix than corruption.  Supposedly.

But Trump may well be Trump, deep down and thoroughly, and Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren have identified a true and significant flaw in Trump.   He is thin skinned.  He rises to take the bait.   He actually thought it appropriate and necessary to challenge the "small hands" comment.  And Trump making strong charges is itself somewhat "un-Presidential" which is why Vice President nominees are normally the one assigned that duty, allowing the presidential nominee to be above that battle.  Trump loves being the attacker himself.

So, theoretically Trump is the one who is positioned to do the brand re-set, but campaign students can watch to see whether he actually has the capacity to do it.   I suspect not.  Trump is Trump.