Republican strategist says Trump is finished

DES MOINES, Iowa — With roughly three weeks to Election Day, Republican strategists publicly concede Hillary Clinton has a firm grip on the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House and may be on her way to an even more decisive victory over Donald Trump.

“He is on track to totally and completely melting down,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayers, who is advising Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s re-election campaign.

Things can change before Election Day. There is one more presidential debate, and Trump has rallied before. His core supporters remain strongly committed. But along with indicators such as polling, campaign travel, staffing and advertising, the interviews with Republican political professionals unaffiliated with the Trump campaign suggest only an epic collapse by Clinton would keep her from winning enough states to become president.

The chaos starts at the top, as Trump and running mate Mike Pence disagreed Sunday over Trump’s claim the election was rigged.

Pence said he and Trump will abide by “the will of the American people” on Election Day, and suggested Trump’s claim of a ‘rigged’ election stems from his belief the media is ganging up on him.

“We will absolutely accept the results of the election,” Pence said in television interviews. He said Trump’s complaint, articulated from the campaign stage and across Twitter but without evidence, reflects fatigue with “the obvious bias in the national media. That’s where the sense of a rigged election goes here.”

Not long after Pence said that, Trump partly undermined his comments.

“The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary — but also at many polling places,” Trump tweeted. “SAD.”

Trump is struggling to shift the focus away from mounting accusations that he sexually assaulted women in ways similar to what he is recorded describing on a recently released video. Trump says all of the accusations are fabricated.

Early voting in pivotal North Carolina and Florida shows positive signs for Clinton. Preference polling in the past week, meanwhile, has generally moved in Clinton’s direction, with the Democrat improving in national surveys and in a number of contested states.