Trump’s mantra is to say it first, say it loudest, and say it often and eventually you’ll get some people to believe it. He doesn’t have to get many. Just enough to matter. And we’ve (sadly) already proven there are enough people out there prone to racist influence where getting enough to matter may not be all that difficult, so long as he repeats it often and loudly enough. It’s been pretty successful for him so far.

Football fans will know the analogy of “This is a game of inches”. Same thing applies here. This election is going to come down to small pockets of independent voters in key swing states. Those states may have a few center-right people who think that Trump is bad enough where they’ll hold their nose and vote for the old white guy, but asking them to vote for a <gasp!> black woman! is just a bit too far. They may be a fringe minority, but a fringe minority may be all he needs in a couple of these states.