Reaction to Trump campaign changes swift

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Donald Trump’s campaign yesterday answered GOP critics of the several bad weeks after the party’s convention yesterday by doubling down on Trump being Trump. The nominee hired Stephen Bannon, what Associated Press writer Nancy Benac described as “a flame-thrower in cargo shorts.”

“His installation at the top of the Trump campaign offers fresh evidence that the GOP nominee has no intention of reining in his brash, outsider's style or cozying up to the GOP establishment despite his campaign's recent struggles,” Benac wrote.

A different AP story this morning indicated that Republican leaders , “are accepting Donald Trump's latest staff shake-up, hopeful that a new leadership team can reverse the New York businessman's struggles even as some worry it's too little too late.”

The Trump campaign already faces a move on the part of GOP activists to divert money away from the presidential campaign, and to at-risk Senate and House campaigns struggling with Trump at the top of the ticket.

The AP continued, “The Republican National Committee has already conceded it may divert resources away from the presidential contest favor of vulnerable Senate and House candidates if Trump's standing does not improve in the coming weeks. RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer called Trump's staffing changes the ‘healthy growth of the campaign at a senior level at a key point.’

“Spicer also urged caution as Trump's new team contemplates whether the fiery populism and freewheeling style that won him the Republican nomination will give him a better shot at the White House than uniting his party and rallying moderate voters.

"’I think people want him to be authentic,’ Spicer said. ‘They appreciate he's not a scripted politician, but there's a recognition that words do matter.’"

Trump also hired a longtime GOP pollster as campaign manager. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was quick to point out the danger to LGBT voters, saying, “Overnight, Donald Trump promoted two operatives who have a history of anti-equality activism. Steve Bannon, promoted to CEO of the Trump campaign, launched a vile smear against transgender people during a May interview with the American Family Association while he worked for Breitbart news. Bannon was attacking non-discrimination protections that ensure transgender people are able to use facilities that match their gender identity.

“Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway, promoted to campaign manager, is a longtime pollster for the anti-LGBTQ National Organization for Marriage. Reminder: these positions are aligned with Trump, who has supported North Carolina’s HB2 and has committed to rolling back nationwide marriage equality.”

Hillary Clinton’s campaign wrote, in a fundraising letter from Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, “Donald Trump just promoted one of the most dangerous right-wing fringe attack artists out there to be the chief executive of his campaign: Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News.

“This move makes it clear that Trump’s strategy going into the final weeks of the election will be not just to attack Hillary all day, every day, but to attack the very idea of the America we believe in. The idea that we ought to treat each other with decency rather than hatred. The idea that immigrants, and Muslims, and LGBT people, and everyone has a place in our country and deserves better than to be denigrated by their president. The idea that politics should be based on facts rather than discredited conspiracy theories. That's all up for grabs now.”

The AP’s coverage of Trump’s changes said, “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. In breaking with that approach, Trump appears set on finishing the race on his own terms — win or lose.

“Trump's divisive tone and weak poll numbers have triggered a rash of Republican defections in recent weeks. Party loyalists have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump's inability to stay focused on Democrat Hillary Clinton amid a series of self-created distractions.”

The next days and weeks will tell what the impact on Trump’s campaign, and his polling numbers are.

The Gayly – August 18, 2016 @ 6:55 a.m.