Donald Trump was facing a choice.
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Now with Trump rebooting after weeks of sinking poll numbers, the question is, what will Trump 3.0 look like?
He has also actively promoted false conspiracy theories about Mrs Clinton, and some have then made their way into Mr Trump’s remarks.
That campaign CEO is Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News, and the new manager is leading Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway.
The change comes less than two months after former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was sacked.
Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, said the website has figured out how to push political story angles that animate “an audience of a particular orientation”, in this case an angry subset of Republicans that predates the tea party movement and now overlaps with Trump’s base. Ailes recently stepped down from Fox amid a swirl of sexual harassment allegations and accusations that he used his power to spy on adversaries.
He’s also bringing in pollster Kellyanne Conway to serve as his campaign manager.
In any diagnosis of Donald Trump’s campaign troubles, the idea that the candidate has been too constrained wouldn’t be our first guess.
“The only thing I care about is the Trump team making this a referendum on Hillary Clinton’s record and getting the country back on track”, said Henry Barbour, a GOP strategist who has always been involved in helping to shape the message of the Republican Party. “It’s me, I don’t want to change”.
Lewandowski said Tuesday evening on CNN that while Trump may try to be “more inclusive”, Trump “knows who he is internally”.
“I didn’t”, he said.
Conway continued by explaining that, as part of their strategy to turn the polls around, they are focusing on the media.
Manafort said he would continue to focus on “the big picture, long-range campaign vision”.
Trump then said “I think I will be called Mr. Brexit”.
Lewandowski stays in contact with Trump, but is so despised by the candidate’s three oldest children – all of whom are influential advisers – and is seen as such a divisive figure that it would be all but impossible for him to formally return.
“It’s very unusual for the Democratic Party to have a candidate that doesn’t have that uplifting, generational, inspirational message much like Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama, or JFK and so, we like our odds in this sense”, she said. The new leadership “effectively ended” Manafort’s push to “moderate Trump’s presentation and pitch for the general election”, according to the Washington Post’s Robert Costa, Jose DelReal, and Jenna Johnson. Or who knows, Trump being Trump could actually win.
“I think it helps us to be a little bit behind, and we are”, she said on Thursday.
Clinton, campaigning Wednesday in Cleveland, said voters should not be fooled by any Trump efforts to revamp his candidacy.
Bannon also has close ties to Peter Schweizer, the author of the book “Clinton Cash,”which detailed how the Clintons had become rich since leaving the White House”. As of last week, Clinton’s campaign had spent more than $58 million on ads.
And the decision also follows a slew of self-inflicted wounds since the Democratic National Convention wrapped, with Trump exchanging barbs with the parents of a slain United States soldier, reigniting intra-party tensions by initially declining to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his reelection bid and ultimately suggesting that “Second Amendment people” could act to keep Clinton from appointing liberal Supreme Court justices should she become president. “He’s got another “let Trump be Trump” guy around, which may make the plane rides more pleasant, but they won’t help build an organisation or campaign to reach out to persuadable voters that is desperately, desperately needed 75 days out”.
Manafort, in his memo, insisted the campaign is in a strong position to win. Bloomberg Businessweek’s Joshua Green quoted Bannon proudly declaring in mid-2015: “We’ve got the 15 best investigative reporters at the 15 best newspapers in the country all chasing after Hillary Clinton”.
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“He does not just have a swing state problem, he has a national problem”, said Newhouse.
