Donald Trump has just fired his combative campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski amidst what can plainly be described as a bad period for his presidential campaign. He is reported to have fired him after a key adviser threatened to resign if he didn’t.
It is no secret that there has practically been a civil war within the Trump campaign for some time, between those that want ‘Trump to Remain Trump’, previously led by Lewandowski and other new entrants who want him to tone down on his explosive rhetoric.
With Lewandowski’s exit, it now seems that the new guys have won a decisive victory as concerns control of the heart of the Trump campaign, but will it be that easy turning that control into a more presidential Donald Trump? Donald Trump himself is at heart a combative Lewandowski style politician and has only allowed the noncombatve faction into his camp in responses to outside pressure, some of which cam from his gentle looking wife whom he has said regularly urges his to be more presidential.
Trump himself has made it clear that he is at heart a combative, Lewandowski style politician, and has only allowed the non-combative faction into his camp in response to outside pressure, some of which came from his gentle looking wife whom he has said regularly urges him to be more presidential.
And to be fair to Lewandowski, his style was what brought Trump his victory at the Republican Party primaries. But with Hillary Clinton currently doing to Trump what he was accustomed to doing to other Republican rivals-4 months to November-it seems there is a sudden panic within the Trump camp that what worked so well before isn’t really working so convincingly now.
By letting his trusted lieutenant go, Donald Trump is making an emergency tactical change aimed at stopping the hemorrhaging of his opinion poll numbers. The Florida gun attack (RIP to the dead) which some in the Trump campaign hoped would lead to more Americans agreeing with Trumps drastic proposals on immigration seems to have largely backfired as he has been lashed mercilessly by his enemies for seeming to glory over the mass killings of some people.
Previously, such occurrences led to jumps in his poll numbers, as his camp used such occurrences as the gun attacks on Paris and Brussels to try and justify Mr Trump’s hard stance on issues. But unlike his Republican opponents, the Democrats seeming to know the kind of response Trump will make to a terrorist attack, were waiting on the other side for a chance to accuse hi of gloating over people’s deaths.
And although some poll numbers have shown him recovering, the initial mass criticisms coming from politicians even from his party and public figures, combined with the fact that trailing in the polls by such a wide margin rattled Trump.
Sure, he has been used to seeing dips in poll numbers during the Republican Primaries, but a large deep in the poll 4 months to election led him to do the unthinkable. Fire Lewandowski, the man who more than any other, gave him the Republican thicket.
Bu the question remains whether Trump will be able to stay presidential. He has said that he doesn’t enjoy that. What he enjoys are high energy politics where he is free to say exactly what he thinks, and use his name calling prowess to bring down big names.
At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be working, and Mr. Trump is ar the horns of a dilemma. Had it been he could discern the future, he would know which part to take.
But alas, The Donald has to seriously consider going low energy, something he despised Jeb Bush for. Unfortunately if he stops being his usually combative self goes low energy and loses in November, he will realize that Lewandowski was probably right.
The victorious ‘low energy’side in Trump’s campaign now have control, but will be advising a man whose only experience is combative high energy politics, and that man is still convinced that his high energy won over media attention and Republican voters to his side.
I think it was a Strategic shift that worked.
Trump was left with no option than to fire him especially because of the concerns from allies and donors, as well as his children, over whether Mr. Lewandowski who had never before worked on a national race, was able to direct a battle against Mrs. Clinton