Tuesday, 18 October 2016

The Boris two-way: Why Trump will win and why he will lose


Donald Trump and Hillary ClintonImage copyrightAP

I'm going to do a Boris. That is to say looking both ways at once.
Let me explain for those of you who don't know what that means: Ahead of the referendum on Britain's membership in the EU, Boris Johnson, now the UK's foreign secretary, wrote two articles for the Daily Telegraph - one arguing why Britain should leave, the other why it should stay.
While he prevaricated and wrestled (and maybe gave a passing consideration of what would be best for Boris's career), the British people waited to hear from the most charismatic and influential man in British politics. He eventually published his column backing Brexit, but the latter leaked this week.
So in that spirit, I am going to write the two blogs of why Donald Trump is going to win the presidential election - and why he isn't.

Why he's going to win


Trump at rallyImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Yes, Donald Trump is behind in the polls, and the past two weeks of his campaign have stunk. But look at where we are as the smoke (and there's been a lot of that) clears from the battlefield. Donald Trump is still standing.
Any other conventional candidate would have been destroyed by what he's been through. But the remarkable thing is not the extent to which his support has gone down, the astonishing thing is how rock solid it remains. He has a seemingly unshiftable 37%.
He needs to grow that by 10% to win. Impossible? Not at all.
Remember polling is not exact science. The pollsters take raw data and season it with salt and pepper and spices. Their modelling looks at people who might be under represented, who might not be picked up by telephone or online polling. But many of the people who waited in line to vote for Trump in the Republican primaries were individuals who had been lost to the political process for years - they are probably not part of an opinion pollster's sampling group.
There is also the phenomenon of the 'shy' Trump supporter.
When I was the BBC's Paris Correspondent in 2002, the National Front candidate, Jean Marie Le Pen did far better than anyone expected when he beat the socialist into the final round of voting. It caused an earthquake. What happened? Clearly far more voters supported his tough line on immigration control than they were telling the pollsters.
It was the same in the UK general election in 2015. The polls just didn't pick up how many people were going to vote Conservative. The polls may just be massively understating support for Donald Trump.

trump signs at a rallyImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Then there is enthusiasm. All the most enthusiastic supporters are with Trump. There is no fervour for Hillary Clinton.
The polls suggest as many as 15% are undecided. But surely if you're going to vote for the Democratic party candidate, what is there left to know? She is conventional, her positions are well known. Voters have nothing new to learn about her.
Surely the bulk of these undecided voters are hoping to see something in Donald Trump that will allow them to vote for him. A bit of reassurance. A bit of presidential mien. A bit of discipline and focus amid the firecrackers.
Trump has not been destroyed by the slew of sex abuse allegations, the awful tape on the bus, nor the disclosures that he may not have paid federal income tax for the best part of two decades.
But what if something bad emerges about Hillary in the last three weeks of campaigning? The Wikileaks disclosures from the hacked emails have so far been in the mildly embarrassing category. What if there is worse to come? What if the attention suddenly switches to Hillary. She does not have the same Teflon coating that Trump has. There is a profound weariness with conventional politics and business-as-usual. Americans are yearning for change.
Hillary Clinton stands for everything that Americans are sick of. Her supporters are heading to the polls to vote for her with no great enthusiasm. She is there for the taking. And that is why Donald Trump is going to win on 8 November.

Why Donald Trump is going to lose


Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton boards her plane at Westchester County Airport October 4, 2016 in White Plains, New York.Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

The polls are moving in a clear direction. The flirtation that the American people have had with going for the most radical choice ever for president has run its course. Yes he has a base that's fired up, but he is marooned at that level.
And he's going to lose not because the election is rigged, as he has taken to alleging in the past few days, but because more Americans in the key battlegrounds are going to vote for Hillary than they are for Donald.
There is NO evidence of voter fraud. Look at the studies. One study that took place over the course of a decade found only 31 examples of voter impersonation across the whole country.
Also if you ever want a sign of resignation in Trump HQ - surely it is making such arguments. We didn't hear anything like this from the Republican nominee a month ago when the race was competitive. Also forget the national polls, it's the fight in the battleground states that matter - and look at what is happening.
Trump has already pulled out of Virginia, support from women in Wisconsin has fallen through the floor - and the Democratic Party, far from retrenching into fewer states, is looking to expand its advertising spending in Georgia and Arizona - even deep red Texas is being eyed as a possible target.
The whole strategy of Hillary Clinton now is "do no wrong".
It may not be exciting. She has hardly been seen the past few days. Why? Because she's happy for the focus to be entirely on Donald Trump. She will be disciplined, focused and will shy away from getting into any unnecessary scraps. She will duck any direct confrontations - and she will allow her formidable team of conduits to do a lot of the heavy lifting.


Media captionMichelle Obama and Donald Trump's duelling speeches on women

The most passionate denunciation of Donald Trump's behaviour to women has not come from Hillary Clinton but from Michelle Obama. She has a great line up of support.
And she has been hugely successful in her ads and her campaigning to continue to punch Donald Trump where it hurts most. Is this man suitable to become president? Polls show something like two-thirds of Americans think he isn't.
She also has the ground game.
Forget the windy rhetoric, the flag waving, the high sounding dreams and the low whispered scares, politics is about the grunt work. The knocking on doors, the calling people up, the getting them to register. It's the machine.
And just compare how well organised Hillary is to Donald? She has far more offices, more strategically situated, with more staff and better funding. Donald Trump on the other hand has a haphazard operation, and seems to be at war with big sections of the Republican Party whose machinery he is dependent on.
And that's why Donald Trump is going to lose on 8 November.



Media caption"Did you gamble this country's future for your own ends?", one journalist challenged Boris Johnson

Now when Boris wrote his two accounts, he said he held them both up to the light and it became blindingly obvious to him why one the argument to leave the EU was so much more powerful.
I think both my arguments are pretty convincing.

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Iraqi troops 'ahead of schedule' in Mosul battle against IS




Media captionOrla Guerin: "It could take months to drive the IS fighters from the city of Mosul"

Iraqi forces are "ahead of schedule", the Pentagon says, as they begin the second day of the battle to retake Mosul from so-called IS fighters.
But Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook warned it "could take some time" as it remained to be seen whether Islamic State (IS) would "stand and fight".
The coalition of forces launched their push towards the city in the early hours of Monday.
IS seized Mosul, then Iraq's second-largest city, in June 2014.
The extremists' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi then chose Mosul as the place to announce the forming of a caliphate, so retaking the city would be "symbolic", according to Mr Cook.
Mr Cook told reporters in Washington: "Early indications are that Iraqi forces have met their objectives so far, and that they are ahead of schedule for this first day. This is going according to the Iraqi plan - but again, it's early, and the enemy gets a vote here. We will see whether ISIL [IS] stands and fights.
"We are confident no matter what, however, that the Iraqis have the capabilities to get this job done, and we stand ready to support them, along with the rest of the coalition."
A coalition of 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni tribal fighters began their advance on lS's last major stronghold in the country after months of planning on Monday.
It is thought between 4,000 and 8,000 IS fighters remain in Mosul.

Mosul map

The Kurds seized several villages in the first few hours of the operation, and announced on Monday evening they had achieved all their key objectives, including recapturing 200 sq km and nine villages in under 24 hours.
They also secured an additional significant stretch of the Irbil-Mosul road.
One Kurdish general told the BBC's Orla Guerin: "We have a powerful enemy, They are not just fighting the Kurds or the Shia, they are fighting the whole world.
"We want to defeat them for everyone's sake."


Media captionDefence correspondent Jonathan Beale is with Iraqi army forces on the road to Mosul

But as the fighting gets closer to the city, concerns have been raised for the safety of civilians still trapped in the area, with British International Development Secretary Priti Patel said the protection of civilians must be a "paramount concern".
"Retaking Mosul will be an important step towards defeating Daesh [IS] in Iraq and ending its tyranny over the civilian population in the city," she said.
"However, with up to one-and-a-half million people still living in the city, it is clear that their protection and wellbeing must be a paramount concern."

Children play at a refugee camp housing Iraqi families who fled fighting in the Mosul areaImage copyrightAFP
Image captionThere are concerns for the civilians still trapped in Mosul. Pictured: Children from Mosul in a refugee camp

Already, the Iraqi government has dropped thousands of leaflets on Mosul telling residents what to do during the offensive.
"My understanding is that there may be as many as seven million leaflets dropped in the next 48 hours or so to try and educate the population of Mosul as to the safest way to conduct themselves as this fighting plays out," Mr Cook said..
The BBC understands that British aircraft have also been involved in Monday's coalition air strikes on Mosul.
The RAF has been providing support to Iraqi troops in the build-up to the operation and will continue to play a "leading role" in the fight against IS, UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.

Who is fighting?

About 30,000 pro-government troops are involved in the operation. The main assault is being led by Iraqi army troops.
About 4,000 Kurdish fighters are trying to clear villages to the east of Mosul, to allow the army to move in.

Iraqi forces deploy in south of Mosul, as they advance towards the city to retake it from the Islamic StateImage copyrightAFP
Image captionThe Iraqi army is moving on Mosul from the south

US Special Operations personnel are advising forces on the ground. Elite Iraqi counterterrorism forces are expected to join in the coming days.
An estimated 4,000-8,000 Islamic State fighters are defending the city.

Why Mosul matters

Mosul, the oil-rich capital of Nineveh province, is Iraq's second-largest city. IS militants overran it in June 2014.
Its capture became a symbol of the group's rise as a major force and its ability to control territory. It was there that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a "caliphate" in parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Satellite image of Mosul showing notable landmarks

The city was one of Iraq's most diverse, comprising ethnic Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians and Turkmens, as well as a variety of religious minorities.
While members of those minorities largely fled the onslaught by IS, many local Sunni Arabs initially welcomed the militants, angered by the sectarian policies of the previous Shia Arab-led central government.
But after two years of brutal IS rule, opposition has reportedly grown inside Mosul.


Media captionCaroline Hawley explains why the battle for Mosul matters so much

One major concern for those still there is the involvement of Shia militiamen in the offensive, after they were accused of sectarian abuses in other cities that have been recaptured.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to reassure them by saying only Iraqi security forces would be allowed to enter Mosul.
Even if IS is driven out of Mosul, the group will still control areas of northern and eastern Iraq.

What about the civilians in Mosul?



Media captionMosul diary: 'I feel like I'm living in a prison'

Up to 100,000 Iraqi civilians may flee to Syria and Turkey to escape the military assault in Mosul, the UN says.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees hasissued an appeal for an additional $61m (£50m) to provide tents, camps, and winter items such as blankets for displaced people inside Iraq and the two neighbouring countries.
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said: "I am extremely concerned for the safety of up to 1.5 million people living in Mosul who may be impacted."
Many are expected to be caught in the fighting. There are fears that residents could be used as human shields by IS.
As many as a million people could be forced to flee their homes.
Most are expected to leave "with only the clothes on their backs," Becky Bakr Abdulla of the Norwegian Refugee Council told the AFP news agency.

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