Steve Bannon, conservative media executive at Breitbart News and former investment banker, is the new chief executive of the Trump campaign.
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Pollster Kellyanne Conway, who has known Mr Trump for years and gained his trust during her brief tenure working for the businessman, will serve as campaign manager.
In confirming the campaign overhaul, Trump called Bannon and Conway “big people” who can help him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.
Further demonstrating questionable judgment, Conway was effusive about Steve Bannon, Breitbart executive, as the campaign’s new CEO: “I’m extremely comfortable with Steve Bannon in the campaign”, she said.
Hillary Clinton shrugged off Donald Trump’s latest campaign shakeup Wednesday, saying he’s the “same man” who would cut taxes for rich people while she would force the super-wealthy to pay more.
A recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll had Trump trailing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 9 points both nationally and in North Carolina, and those deficits cover the margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.2 percentage points.
Conway, the first woman manager of a Republican presidential run, said she would rather loose an election campaign based on substance than win it on style.
Trump’s standing in the White House race has plummeted throughout the summer and he now trails Clinton in preference polls of most key battleground states.
“Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues”, Trump said while reading from prepared remarks during a campaign rally here. “And I have to question whether or not the campaign is honest about winning a victory against Hillary Clinton by instituting someone like this as the CEO of the campaign”, she said. “Nice and easy. You know, like the old race horse”, Trump said in Windham, New Hampshire.
Trump decided on the changes this weekend after speaking with campaign donors at a fundraiser in The Hamptons, including Rebekah Mercer, a high-profile GOP donor with longstanding ties to Conway, who shared her concerns with Trump about the direction of the campaign, a source told CNN.
“There is no new Donald Trump”.
“There is a hall pass for the next 48 hours for all Republicans”, he said. As campaign manager, Conway, a pollster, is expected to help Trump regain his polling numbers that have suffered since mid-July.
“I’ve thought for a while that they’ve needed more smart, senior people and it looks like they just got them”, said Republican strategist Charlie Black.
Bannon’s website has been a cheerleader for Trump’s campaign for months and also critical of Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for Breitbart for four years. If Trump is going to lose – and that is a likely bet today – let him lose on his own terms.
Beck said to Bannon in his radio show in Febuary, “You’re not going to be the next Roger Ailes…”
“I am committed to doing whatever it takes to win this election, and ultimately become President”, Trump said in his statement. Ted Cruz before advising the Trump campaign.
The move was seen at the time as Trump’s acknowledgment that the sort of say-anything-at-any-time strategy that had carried him to a shocking primary victory was insufficient to the general election challenge he now faced.
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But, I believe that Mr. Bannon’s relationship with the Trump campaign is something that Breitbart News needs to reveal now and thoroughly.
