Trump Forges Ahead After Difficult Week

Just as Donald Trump’s campaign thought the dust had settled on his prolonged public battle with the family of slain army Captain Humuyan Khan, the GOP nominee then suggested last week that “second amendment people” could perhaps prevent Hillary Clinton from being able to choose Supreme Court Justices.

And then he declared, over 20 times in just two days, that President Obama was the “founder of ISIS” only to then say he was being sarcastic but “not that sarcastic.”

To conclude Trump's trying week, the New York Times issued a blistering report Saturday afternoon, quoting over 20 anonymous sources who attested to the turmoil within the campaign.

Trump responded by assailing the Times in a series of tweets, blasting the newspaper and the press in general, repeating a claim he made on Friday that he would be beating Hillary Clinton in the polls, were it not for the media. "I will tell you honestly, I’m not running against crooked Hillary, I’m running against the crooked media that's what I’m running against,” Trump said in Connecticut Saturday evening. "It's true. I'm not running against crooked Hillary.”

And so begins Trump’s week. His campaign is attempting to forge ahead with a focus, again, on policy. Today, he will deliver remarks in the battleground state of Ohio, laying out a plan for combating Islamic terrorism. This comes as part of a concerted effort on behalf of senior staff members to keep Trump on message with a policy-based speech each week. Last week Trump rolled out an updated version of his economic plan in Detroit, Michigan.

But controversy still dogs the campaign. Sources tell ABC News that staffers remain frustrated with Trump, who has been having a hard time adjusting from the primaries to the general election and the rigors that come with it.

To help change the campaign's trajectory, Trump is now increasingly being joined on the trail by a travel companion. This includes either a top-level surrogate, party official or member of his family. We saw a soft roll-out of that plan with former New York City Mayor Giuliani, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus joining him last week.

As Republicans both publicly and privately continue to question their nominee -- even as Trump maintains that his operation is sound and his campaign is unified -- behind the scenes, sources tell ABC News that the campaign is constantly having to quell the concerns of nervous party members. Attempting to build bridges for his running mate, Indiana Gov Pence has met with top Republicans like former candidate Jeb Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain.

An aide to John Kasich told ABC the two governors have been trying to reach one another over the phone, but haven't been able to speak yet. The WSJ reported last week that Pence also called Ted Cruz.

Pence promised voters in Lancaster, PA last week that Trump would begin laying out more substantial policy proposals.

"Donald Trump laid out the first of what will be a series of major addresses on a broad range of policies that will articulate our-- our vision for a new administration in Washington DC," he said.

One senior level campaign source says Trump "just needs to focus on her," referring to Secretary Clinton.

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