“I’ve known both of them for a long time”.
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‘After several failed attempts to pivot into a more serious and presidential mode, Donald Trump has chose to double down on his most small, nasty and divisive instincts by turning his campaign over to somebody who’s best known for running a so-called “news site” that peddles divisive, at times, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, ‘ Mook said.
The appointments amounted to a demotion for Paul Manafort, who was brought on as campaign manager earlier this year to professionalise Mr Trump’s campaign, but has struggled to get the NY businessman to rein in his freewheeling ways. He said the addition of pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager will be able to provide to the Trump campaign “some credence in terms of what matters to most people”.
Q: Do you think these changes will help Trump?
As Donald Trump rearranges the deck chairs on the sinking ship of his presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton appears to be having a good time. As part of Trump’s move, the Republican presidential nominee plans to restore a full-bore anti-establishment tenor to the campaign, ending sporadic efforts to moderate his tenor and reach out to skeptical Republicans and independents, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been critical of Trump’s campaign, accused Breitbart News in April of shifting to embrace ideas on the “extremist fringe of the conservative right”, including racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideas. Republicans have argued she shouldn’t have access to classified information either. “Kellyanne’s vigorous defense of Todd Akin in 2012 demonstrated that she lacks an understanding of the kind of voters the GOP needs to attract to win in a general election”. That job had been officially vacant, with Manafort assuming numerous duties, since Trump fired previous campaign manager Corey Lewandowski back in June. Gates, who had worked with Manafort on Ukrainian issues, told the AP he and Manafort had consulted with the lobbying firms on Ukrainian politics, but called the actions lawful.
The shakeup follows several weeks of negative headlines and alarming polls for Trump who is trailing Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in almost every key battleground state and lagging in the latest national polls.
“He’s a person who, I think, a little bit like myself, is a bit of a street fighter”, Lewandowski said on CNN, where he has been a paid contributor since being dismissed from the Trump campaign in June.
“I am who I am…” Supporters in the “let Trump be Trump” camp heralded the moves.
Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook opened a conference call with reporters by calling Breitbart a “so-called news site” that trafficked in conspiracy theories and began smearing the journalistic company with the usual leftist attacks on Republicans and conservatives.
“People like Bannon and Breitbart have been going after Hillary every day for this entire campaign, and she is still standing strong, so this is nothing new.” he said.
There is no new Donald Trump – this is it.
Details of the new pecking order were hashed out at a lengthy senior staff meeting at Trump Tower Tuesday while Trump was on the road.
That description was quoted approvingly in a Trump press release about Wednesday’s campaign shakeup. Additional senior hires are expected in the next few days.
Bannon, a former Navy officer, and Goldman Sachs investment banker, has been a right-wing media executive for years.
Is is possible to focus on “down-ballot” races without helping Trump? Super PACs are organizations that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support a candidate, but can’t coordinate with the candidate’s campaign.
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Trump, whose campaign is built on his persona as a victor, said several times Wednesday that the campaign was “doing well”, and said his speech hours earlier in Wisconsin Tuesday was well-received.
