The overhaul also comes amid reports in The New York Times and by the Associated Press regarding Manafort’s work for the political party of Ukraine’s then-president, Viktor Yanukovych, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Advertisement
The moves are aimed in part at marginalizing campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a longtime Republican operative who pushed Trump to moderate his tone and improve relations with skeptical Republican officials.
The conflict between the need to appease the Republican establishment, both the party and the electorate, and the desire to win through aggressive and outsider strategies may have been decided by changes in Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s staff. Trump’s campaign announced some significant additions to the staff on August 17, 2016.
Mr Lewandowski, who was ousted in June as the unorthodox Trump campaign tried to adopt more presidential posture, likened Mr Bannon to “a street fighter”.
The ads will air in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina – all key battleground states where Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has taken leads or grown her leads in recent polls. “That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win”.
The move comes almost two months after Trump fired Corey Lewandowski as his campaign manager.
The unashamedly partisan and populist Breitbart was described by Bloomberg previous year as “a haven for people who think Fox News is too polite and restrained” and Mr Bannon as “the most risky political operative in America”.
In recent national polling, Clinton leads head-to-head match-ups against Trump, with the Democrat holding 47.7 percent support compared to 41 percent for the NY businessman, according to averages compiled by RealClear Politics.
“I want to win”, Trump told the newspaper. “That’s it. Pure and simple”, a source familiar with the tensions told CNN, adding that Trump’s gaffes and controversial statements in recent weeks have been fueled in part by his “exasperation” with the campaign’s management.
Critics say the development provides more evidence Trump represents a threat to national security.
The analysis covers the last two months, since Clinton and Trump officially clinched their nominations and turned their attention to the general election.
Ukrainian ties The Associated Press raised further questions about the ties between Mr Trump’s team and the former pro-Kremlin Ukrainian regime, reporting yesterday that Mr Manafort and another Trump aide, Rick Gates, had failed to disclose their efforts at influencing USA policy on behalf of Mr Yanukovych’s then governing party. Trump pollster Kellyanne Conway will be promoted to campaign manager.
“Everybody talks about, “Oh well, you’re gonna pivot”.
Bannon has never run a political campaign. But, it turns out Conway wasn’t exactly always the biggest Donald Trump supporter.
“I mean you have to be you”.
Advertisement
Lewandowski had also attracted distracting controversy following a run-in with a Breitbart News reporter at a Trump rally who accused him of roughly grabbing her arm. “We’ve got to get away from this content-free campaign and on to the substance”, she said. “If you start pivoting you are not being honest with people”, Trump told WKDT. Trump’s senior staff will huddle on Wednesday to go over the changes.
