Trump would have been better off just conceding the loss from the outset and spending the general - election season going up in flames , showing up at debates guzzling martinis and wearing a lampshade on his head , directing daily tirades at cancer kids and nuns , playing the election like an Andy Kaufman prank . Instead , he vacillated wildly , trying in one moment to look " presidential " before reversing course seconds later to purge his staff and go on politically destructive rampages . These manic - depressive episodes caused him to plummet movement.transportperson.na in the polls and ultimately left him on the maximally absurd strategic track : trying to right the ship and win back the political middle under the direction of Bannon , an infamous idiot , extremist and Internet conspiracy theorist whose ex - wife claimed in court filings that he " did n't want [ his kids ] to go to school with Jews . " Trump as Eliza Doolittle and Bannon as Professor Higgins is surely the dumbest casting of Pygmalion ever tried . By late August , the Trump - Bannon re - brand was well underway .