Critics of GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump may roll their eyes at the explanation his son Eric has given for the departure of campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
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Trump also made a last-minute scheduling change, scrapping a planned event in NY in order to travel with his running mate Mike Pence to tour the flood damage in Louisiana on Friday morning. “I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today”, he added.
“Mr. Trump accepted his resignation and wished him well and thanked him for his service”. On Friday, Manafort, the high profile head of the Trump Campaign resigned.
While it remains too early to tell, the first moves under the new regime have largely shown an investment in conventional campaigning.
Clinton now leads 47.2 percent to Trump’s 41.2 percent, according to an average of national polls from Real Clear Politics, and is ahead in virtually every swing state. Lewandowski, who has continued to support Trump during on-air appearances as a CNN contributor, pointed to the lack of a traditional campaign structure on the ground – and reports that the Trump campaign hadn’t purchased airtime for TV ads – as reasons for the political adviser’s downfall. Additional spending expected to reach $900,000 is earmarked for cable, Goldstein said, citing a media buyer familiar with Trump’s plans.
Mrs Clinton had previously warned about the prospect of Mr Trump trying to change his ways, concerned that voters who had been turned off by his inflammatory comments on a variety of subjects might look favourably on signs of contrition.
Trump, joined by running mate Mike Pence (R-Ind.), visited Baton Rouge to survey the flood damage that killed at least 13 people and displaced thousands more.
Manafort, a longtime Washington fixture, was originally brought on in the spring to save Trump from a defeat at the Republican convention should Trump have failed to win enough delegates to clinch a first-ballot nomination. Donald Trump’s campaign turnaround plan on Friday featured the unorthodox candidate acting much like a conventional politician struggling to revive a presidential bid on the ropes. Michael Caputo – who helped run his campaign in NY, fired in June after gleefully celebrating Lewandowski’s firing. That decision by Trump seemed to be an embrace of Manafort’s strategy.
Yet as his poll numbers tumbled, Trump decisively reversed course, installing a media provacateur – Bannon – as his campaign’s CEO. Manafort has played a vital role in Trump’s sweeping victory during the Republican primaries.
Mr Manafort’s resignation comes two days after he was effectively demoted in a shake-up of the campaign’s leadership.
Clinton’s campaign called the resignation an admission of the Trump campaign’s “disturbing” connections with allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia and Ukraine. “You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn’t end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin”.
Trump’s son Eric, meanwhile, told Fox News that Manafort “was unbelievable”, but his father didn’t want to be “distracted by whatever things Paul was dealing with”. “You know, Paul was awesome”.
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“I think my father wanted to be distracted by whatever things Paul was dealing with”.
