Donald Trump broke all the rules to win the Republican primary. He can't do the same against Hillary Clinton.

His campaign isn't "lean" — it's skeletal

Donald Trump must play by the rules if he wants to win now that the race is so close.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The story we've all heard a thousand times about Donald Trump is that he's broken the rules, upended the conventional wisdom, and proven all the critics wrong. He doesn't have to do things the way they've been done before, and his success in this campaign is proof. Which is all true. But is it also true that he doesn't have to do anything the way it's been done before, and that none of the rules apply to him?

He's going to be testing that proposition in any number of ways, including in how he structures his campaign. Instead of having a large staff spread across the country performing all the challenging tasks associated with a presidential campaign, Trump for President is employing about the same number of people as your local Safeway. Consequently, there will be entire elements of campaigning that Trump probably won't even bother with.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.