Making him seem not like a racist is the best thing they can do, doubling down is basically the status quo which is what is making him lose so badly. The issue is that I do not think the campaign is going to be effective at it and it that doesn't include the Hillary countering them and doing their own thing. It is a very likely chance that they'll be partially successfully with the strategy as in tightening the polls slightly. But there's a big chance that it'll effectively not do anything at all. If the campaign can't turn this around within about a month or so he lost( I think he already lost anyway).
See this gets super complex because we don't know where Trump's mindset is. If he thinks he can still win, then, sure try and appear a bit less racist. However, if he's accepted that he's not going to win, and has gone into survival mode, then the brand is more important. I think doubling (or tripling) down on white nationalism is how he gets there. I would even argue that, if he's losing, he's not invested in the polls actually tightening up that much. It gives him the crooked/corrupt media angle to run with.
This is all well and good... from the perspective of Republican leadership. All of this would help maintain the down-ticket as best you can (rile up the base and maybe hold those seats). But it's not good for Trump himself.
Any discussion of "the Trump campaign" has to be prefaced with whether you're talking about good for the man himself or the GOP leaders that are pushing him. Trump, I think, has finally realized that he's screwed. He's going down with people he likes, and he's not going to put in a shit ton of work at the end of the line since he probably won't win anyway. He knows that it'll be a blowout, and so he'd rather take it easy.
Normally this wouldn't happen since you (if you're party leadership) would hope that the head of your ticket actually cares about the party you're in charge of.* Trump doesn't care about that at all. After November, he can literally punch Pubis in the face on national television and walk away. He's not a politician and he doesn't run in these circles. It'd be like me going to a lumberjack convention; I don't need any of those connections, so I can do whatever I want there. Trump doesn't have to care about long-term effects on the party after he loses; it's just not his problem.
*As an aside, this would've been the scariest part of a Sanders run for me since I live in a red state. Good organization from national Dems is the only thing that even vaguely helps out in places like this, and when you've got someone heading the ticket who literally doesn't give a shit about stuff like long-term party success.
I think I arrived at the same place you did. Because we don't know what the hell he's thinking right now. I think my original argument was what is best for the Trump brand moreso than the party. What's best for the party is to drink until November 8th, and pray to god no one remembers 2016 in 4 years.
I feel like scaling back on things like rallies would make this a lot easier for Trump Outside fundraising, going to Texas served no purpose. This new Trump isn't doing anything to save face with his base. In fact, his immigration....flip flop or whatever it is is probably hurting him. Immigration was his only policy platform. What he's doing with it now makes sense only in the context of trying to do what's best to actually win and not burn the party down. The latter is not a trait I would ascribe to Trump. From a brand perspective, it doesn't make sense either.
To be honest, I think it's probably just a manifestation of the dysfunctional campaign. Trying to read the tea leaves is probably a fools errand, because there is no reason to any of this that he's doing.
