El Trumpo continues to shock and surprise us, and today is no exception as we discover that he’s merging his flailing campaign with Breitbart News and dumping Manafort and everyone else telling him to tone it down.
.@KellyannePolls confirms WSJ report that Bannon will be CEO, she will be campaign manager. Manafort remains in senior role.
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) August 17, 2016
Ostensibly, Manafort will stay on the campaign, but Kellyanne Conway will begin running the campaign, and Steve Bannon of Breitbart will be the CEO.
More from Politico:
Donald Trump, whose presidential bid has been stumbling badly in recent weeks, is reshuffling his campaign’s senior leadership.
The Republican nominee tapped pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager and Breitbart News Chairman Stephen Bannon as campaign chief executive, Conway confirmed to POLITICO early Wednesday morning.
The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Trump told the paper “I want to win,” and “That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win.”
Campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who had been effectively running the campaign for the last two months, will stay on in his current position.
But the shakeup seems to represent a diminution of his authority at a time when Trump’s campaign is sliding in polls versus Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and has been badly damaged by a string of controversies stemming from Trump’s own impolitic pronouncements.
This is truly blowing my mind. And it basically dispels the assurances from Manafort that there weren’t any problems in the campaign and confirms reports of his frustrations with Trump.
Conway and Bannon don't have experience winning a national election. Bannon has no pol experience. Both have personal chemistry w Trump.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 17, 2016
Conway does have presidential experience and has worked on a number of campaigns, senate/gov races
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 17, 2016
This is a doubling down on the “let Trump be Trump” strategy, if I’m reading it correctly, and I imagine that we’re going to see a lot of fireworks, and a lot less “controlled Trump.” Because Trump just can’t conceive that anyone would dislike him, and he’s hired yes-men to reassure him of that fantasy.