Thread: Donald Trump, in Shake-Up, Hires Breitbart Executive for Top Campaign Post

Donald Trump, in Shake-Up, Hires Breitbart Executive for Top Campaign Post

By ASHLEY PARKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN AUG. 17, 2016

LAS VEGAS — Donald J. Trump has shaken up his presidential campaign for the second time in two months, hiring a top executive from the conservative news site Breitbart News and promoting a senior adviser to a key new role in an effort to right his faltering campaign.

Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, will become the Republican campaign’s chief executive, and Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster for Mr. Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, will become the campaign manager.

Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, will retain his title. But the staffing change, hammered out on Sunday and set to be formally announced Wednesday morning, represents a demotion for Mr. Manafort, who took control of the campaign nearly two months after Mr. Trump won the primary in Indiana, forcing the remaining two candidates from the race.

The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was confirmed early Wednesday by Ms. Conway in a brief interview, but she rejected the idea that the changes amounted to a shake-up.

“It’s an expansion at a busy time in the final stretch of the campaign,” she said, adding that Mr. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, would remain in their roles.

The people briefed on the move said that it reflects Mr. Trump’s realization that his campaign was at a crisis point. But it indicates that the candidate, who has chafed at making the types of changes his current aides have asked for even though he had acknowledged they would need to occur, has decided to embrace his aggressive style for the duration of the race.

Both Mr. Bannon and Ms. Conway are close with Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the father-and-daughter conservative donors who have become allies of Mr. Trump and are funding a “super PAC” that is working against Hillary Clinton.

Ms. Conway has past presidential experience in primary races, but the role in a general election represents a new one for her. She is well liked by Mr. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had been serving as the de facto campaign manager.

Mr. Bannon has no experience with political campaigns, but he represents the type of bare-knuckled fighter that the candidate had in Corey Lewandowski, his combative former campaign manager, who was fired on June 20.

Mr. Bannon has been a supporter of Mr. Trump’s pugilistic instincts, which the candidate has made clear in interviews he is uncertain about whether he wants to suppress. He is also deeply mistrustful of the political establishment, and his website has often been critical of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who has become a close Trump adviser, has also urged the candidate to dig in and prepare to fight harder, and in a more focused way, in what has quickly become one of the nastiest presidential campaigns in modern United States history.

It was not clear what the promotions would mean for Mr. Manafort, who had initially been hired to steer Mr. Trump through what appeared to be a protracted fight for delegates.

Mr. Manafort rose in power after repeated clashes with Mr. Lewandowski, who was ultimately fired with the help of Mr. Trump’s adult children, who believed the campaign manager was trying to spread negative stories about Mr. Kuhsner.

Mr. Lewandowski, now a paid CNN commentator, has denied that it was the case, and he and Mr. Trump still speak frequently, with the candidate seeking his advice.

Mr. Lewandowski’s troubles began, in part, when he was accused by a female Breitbart reporter, who worked for Mr. Bannon, of grabbing her roughly after a news conference at one of his Florida properties. He was charged with assault, but prosecutors declined to proceed with the case, which was dropped.

People briefed on the reshuffling were adamant that Mr. Trump’s children would seek to block a return by Mr. Lewandowski. And they insisted that staff departures resulting from the changes would be few.

The candidate has bucked repeated efforts to rein in his impulsive behavior, committing repeated gaffes after telling he aides he planned to adopt a more presidential tone.

His behavior has angered the party’s top figures, who have openly expressed concern about preserving Republican majorities in the House and Senate in light of Mr. Trump’s performance in the polls.

The moves were hammered out on Sunday in meetings at Mr. Trump’s golf club at Bedminster, N.J. Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News, also met with Mr. Trump that day, as The Times reported on Tuesday, and he will be part of efforts to prepare Mr. Trump in his debate against Mrs. Clinton and with other tasks, according to three people briefed on the discussions.

Mr. Manafort had also come under increasing scrutiny over his ties to Ukraine for elections he worked on as an international consultant, including handwritten ledgers showing he was designated to receive $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from a pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012. Yet it remains to be seen whether a new chain of command can ultimately fix the problem: the candidate’s lack of discipline and desire to punch back at nearly any critic.

After a series of recent controversies — including Mr. Trump’s assertion that Russia should hack Mrs. Clinton’s emails; his criticism of a Muslim-American Gold Star family; and his suggestion that Second Amendment supporters could revolt against Mrs. Clinton — the candidate began trying anew to appear moderated in tone.

On Monday, he delivered a speech on terrorism using a teleprompter rather than the off-the-cuff style he prefers, and on Tuesday he offered yet another scripted address, this time on law and order.

Mr. Pence, too, has privately worked to quell the growing concerns surrounding the Republican ticket. At the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Colorado on Tuesday, Mr. Pence used his keynote speech to offer “encouragement” — a word he used several times — and reassurance to the crowd.

“We’re still winning hearts and minds every day despite an avalanche of negative media coverage,” Mr. Pence said during the closed-door session, according to audio provided to The New York Times.

Time, Mr. Pence added, was on their side. “It’s preseason, for heaven’s sake,” he said. “The gun starts on Labor Day.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/us...fort.html?_r=0

A woman Campaign Manager. WOW!

Breitbart's Bannon, Chief Executive. WOW!

Sounds like a man who wants to win to me! Anyone thinking or dreaming of Trump dropping out, forget it.

He will be the most wonderful President.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/politi...inkId=27749058

Trump campaign shakeup

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:01 AM ET, Wed August 17, 2016

Story highlights

Steve Bannon of Breitbart News is in as chief executive
Kellyanne Conway has been promoted to campaign manager
Paul Manafort is still the campaign's chairman

(CNN)Donald Trump's campaign is undergoing a major staff shake-up with less than three months to Election Day, adding two officials to top posts overseeing his struggling campaign and signaling a shift in campaign leadership toward a more aggressive style willing to go scorched earth in order to win.

Trump has named Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and a former investment banker, to the post of chief executive and promoted Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster to his campaign, to the position of campaign manager, Conway confirmed to CNN early Wednesday morning.

The addition of Bannon -- known for his brass-knuckled demeanor and his website's sharp tone -- came hours after reports surfaced that Roger Ailes, the recently ousted head of Fox News, will begin to advise Trump as he prepares for the presidential debates. The influence of both men lays the groundwork for unleashing Trump this fall from the more traditional presidential candidate framework, which Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort's leadership was brought on to create.

Steve Bannon: The "street fighter" who's now running Trump's campaign

Manafort, the campaign's chief strategist, will stay on in his campaign chairman role, Conway said.

"I look at it as an expansion of the team. Paul remains as Chairman," Conway told CNN.

Bannon's ascension solidifies an informal, mutually beneficial relationship between Breitbart, which has unapologetically championed Trump, and the campaign. The website, which Bannon has been closely involved with since its launch in 2007, has also been a center for conspiracy theories about Clinton's health as well as stories about Bill Clinton's alleged treatment of women.

The campaign's changes came as tensions mounted inside Trump's campaign in recent weeks and as Trump's relationship with Manafort soured to the point that several people close to the campaign warned that a major staff shake-up might be imminent, sources close to the campaign told CNN.

The staffing shake-up follows several weeks of negative headlines and alarming polls for Trump who is trailing Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in nearly every key battleground state and lagging in the latest national polls.

The Trump campaign denied that Ailes would be taking on any role with the campaign and campaign aides also received a memo Tuesday slapping down those reports, according to a source close to the campaign.

In a statement from the campaign Wednesday morning outlining the changes, Trump said he was willing to do "whatever it takes to win this election."

"I have known Steve and Kellyanne both for many years. They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win," Trump said in the statement. "I believe we're adding some of the best talents in politics, with the experience and expertise needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and continue to share my message and vision to Make America Great Again."

The shake-up marks the second major change in the top rungs of the billionaire's campaign.

Trump just two months ago fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski after weeks of internal fighting between Lewandowski and Manafort, who was initially brought on to oversee Trump's efforts to stave off the possibility of a contested convention.

As the campaign shake-up neared, campaign aides pointed fingers at each other, the campaign's pollsters quarreled over strategy and the friction between Trump and Manafort became apparent.

Both Trump and Manafort discussed the friction in their relationship with friends in recent days, and a close associate described Trump as frustrated at the state of the race, leveling complaints that he has been the victim of bad advice from his political team.

"Mr. Trump doesn't trust him anymore. That's it. Pure and simple," a source familiar with the tensions told CNN, adding that Trump's gaffes and controversial statements in recent weeks have been fueled in part by his "exasperation" with the campaign's management.

"When Mr. Trump doesn't feel comfortable with the way things are managed or the way things are, he has a tendency to try to do everything, thus his exasperation becomes apparent. It manifests itself," the source said.

Paul Manafort stays on as the campaign's chairman.

Several people in touch with Trump or his top political advisers in recent days said they had heard a shake-up was possible. But some cautioned that such chatter was predictable and inevitable when any campaign faces tough times.

Trump's decision to overhaul his campaign's leadership came as recent polls showed Clinton thrashing Trump in the key battleground states and even gaining a lead in several states that typically lean Republican, such as Georgia.

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 US 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.

Trump's campaign advisers have sought to refocus him, including through a pair of scripted policy speeches on the economy and terrorism that offered a stark contrast to Trump's freewheeling style.

But Trump has repeatedly said he is resistant to change and reiterated that Tuesday in an interview with a local news station in Wisconsin.
"I am who I am. It's me. I don't want to change. Everyone talks about, 'Oh are you going to pivot?' I don't want to pivot. You have to be you. If you start pivoting you are not being honest with people," Trump told WKDT.

Corey Lewandowski, who is now a CNN political commentator, has continued to informally advise Trump, according to sources familiar with their ongoing conversations.

Lewandowski said Tuesday evening on CNN that while Trump may try to be "more inclusive," Trump "knows who he is internally."
"What he's going to do is remain true to himself, which is what this campaign has been about," Lewandowski said.

Internal finger pointing abounded in recent days as recent media accounts have portrayed a campaign in disarray and at-times feuding with frustrated GOP leaders. Differences between the Trump campaign's pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Conway, who was promoted to campaign manager, were also the source of recent tensions.

The source noted that Lewandowski had issued a similar campaign memo when Manafort was hired in a volunteer capacity with the campaign.

CNN's Brian Stelter, John King and Dylan Byers contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/politi...inkId=27749058

‘I Don’t Want to Pivot’: Trump Stands by His Audacious Campaign Style

Aug. 16, 2016 10:11pm Tré Goins-Phillips

“At the right time, I will be so presidential that you’ll call me and you’ll say, ‘Donald, you have to stop that, it’s too much,’” Donald Trump told Fox News commentator Sean Hannity in April.



Now, some are wondering when that transition will happen. But according to the Republican presidential nominee, there will be no pivot toward a more refined campaign. In an interview with a local Wisconsin reporter, Trump indicated he’s not interested in moderating his tone.

“Well, possibly I do, but you know, I am who I am,” he told News 8′s Brittany Schmidt, who asked the candidate if he needs to change his style before November, citing recent polls that show him down to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

“Everyone talks about, ‘Oh, you’ve got to pivot,’” he continued. “I don’t want to pivot. I don’t want to change.”

Trump equated pivoting his style to a more presidential tone to “not being honest with people, adding, “I am who I am.” It is important to note, however, that Trump has started using a teleprompter and delivering more disciplined messaging in recent weeks.

The GOP nominee reminded the reporter that many polls during the Republican presidential primary indicated he would not succeed in his effort to secure his party’s nomination.

“I’ve gotten here in a landslide, so we’ll see what happens,” he said. “[D]on’t forget, when I lost Wisconsin, it was over for Trump. Except for one problem: I then went on a very good run.”

Trump, who lost the Wisconsin primary to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) last April, promised to perform better in the state in November, telling Schmidt, “I understand what I’m up against.”

“It’s been a long time since anybody won Wisconsin,” he said. “I believe that was [former President] Ronald Reagan. That’s a long time, in terms of a Republican.”

Clinton currently leads Trump by 15 points, according to the latest Marquette Law School poll out of Wisconsin. The latest general election poll from NBC News shows Clinton with a six-point lead nationally.

See Trump’s comments below



‘I Don’t Want to Pivot’: Trump Stands By His Audacious Campaign Style

http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/...n-white-house/

LISTEN: Stephen K. Bannon’s Epic ‘Clinton Cash’ Rant — Bill and Hillary ‘Two Biggest Grifters to Ever Run for President’

by John Hayward 20 Jul 2016605

On Wednesday, Breitbart News Executive Chairman and SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon spoke with author Peter Schweizer about the release of their movie project based on Schweizer’s best-selling Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.

Actually, Bannon did most of the talking, in an epic rant he humorously described as “Going Off the Rails,” beginning with an invitation for the Clintons to sue him for speaking frankly about their corruption because he would “love to do discovery on you collection of scumbags.”

Bannon said the Clintons were “the biggest set of grifters” ever to run for the White House.

He also said the audience at Tuesday’s screening of the Clinton Cash movie was “25 percent Democrats,” and “their heads blew up.”

“These are principally Bernie Sanders folks,” said Bannon. “They are decent, hard-working people, but a lot of them are socialists. A lot of them are with these NGOs, but they’re decent, hard-working people.” Bannon added:

When they saw one hour of Peter Schweizer’s book up there on the screen, with this collection of bandits, these grifters, that have basically taken everything these people have worked for – whether it’s nuclear proliferation, whether it’s global warming, whether it’s the rainforest, whether it’s human trafficking – you can take anything you want to take, and the Clintons have monetized it, on a global scale.

He said the Democrats in the audience were “pulling up the chairs and ready to fight.”

“It was absolutely amazing to see the response when you show this to Democrats, particularly the Bernie Sanders – and every one of them, to a person, as I walked out, said if only Bernie Sanders had gotten on top of this, it would have been a very different outcome in that primary.”

“Hillary Clinton, in the movie, says when they left the White House in 2000, not only were they ‘dead broke,’ she says they were in a lot of debt because of the Monica Lewinsky legal situation. Dead broke. That means zero in the year 2001,” Bannon noted, adding:

AP – the Associated Press, not Breitbart News, not some wingnut right-wing collection of guys with tinfoil hats, not Breitbart News, but the Associated Press – that their wealth, in 2015, two hundred million dollars. And $140 million of that, $140 million of the two hundred, came from the time she was secretary of state.

He said the “simple question the Clintons have to answer to the American people” was how they accumulated so much money, without generating any real business activity.

Schweizer stepped in to suggest that the Clinton’s “answer” to that question “would be that they’re wonderful philanthropic people, and you’re just picking on them.”

“They declare victim status whenever these questions are raised, and that’s sort of the irony here, right?” Schweizer continued. Elaborating, he stated:

I mean, the Clintons have made a history out of questioning the ethics and the values of people who have been successful in other walks of life, developing businesses, actually employing people. And yet, when you question how they have monetized public life, and public office, suddenly they become all protective and say, “Look, why are you indicting our ethics? That’s just unfair.”

He agreed with Bannon that it was surprising that Bernie Sanders did not make a bigger issue out of Clinton corruption in the primary because “he could have done substantial damage to her.”

Bannon said it would be interesting to watch the reaction after the Clinton Cash movie is posted “for the whole world to see” this weekend, digitally, for free.

“You know why we’re doing this? So many progressives and Democrats have come to us and said this film needed to be seen. Where the Clintons are going to be held accountable is by Democrats,” Bannon predicted. He added:

Where the Clintons are going to be held accountable is by progressives. Here’s who’s going to hold them accountable: those people that have sacrificed their lives at these NGOs, and these citizen activist groups. And while this audience, and myself, and Breitbart News ideologically does not agree with what they are, these are hard-working people that have sacrificed their lives, and they make no money.

“And they sit there and they watch that film, and they see in every vertical they’ve ever worked how the Clintons have dealt with the worst people in the world,” he declared. “Warlords, corrupt crooks — you can go from Columbia, to India, to sub-Saharan Africa, to Europe, to Asia, and wherever there’s somebody that needs a deal, the Clintons are there to monetize access.”

Once again daring the Clintons, and associates like Sidney Blumenthal, to sue him for saying so, Bannon charged:

This is Tammany Hall on a global scale. This is complete and total corruption. This is unprecedented in American history. They have sold out their own people. It’s one thing to sell somebody out for ideology. There’s another thing to sell them out for cold cash, and the Clintons have sold out their own people for cold cash. They are grifters.

“We are dying to get into discovery with you, and go through chapter and verse of your absolutely amoral corruption,” he taunted.

Bannon warned:

Hillary and Bill Clinton are the two biggest single grifters ever to run for President of the United States, and I throw guys like Roscoe Conkling and all the Tammany Hall corrupt S.O.B.s back in the 19th Century in that. These people are corrupt. They are corrupt from stem to stern, and if they get in the White House, it’s gonna be like the last days of Sodom, as far as the money-changing goes. It’s nothing but a money laundering operation.

Schweizer added that Democrat voters might like the Clintons right now “because of what their positions are,” but “the problem is, if you are outbid – if somebody offers them more money – they will turn on you. And that’s what I think a lot of supporters have to really think and absorb.”

Schweizer also said Bannon was correct that “ultimately, it’s going to be within the Democratic Party where the political accountability is going to come from,” much as occurred with Republicans during the Watergate crisis in the 1970s.

“What was it that did in Richard Nixon?” Schweizer asked. “It was not the Democrats, ultimately. It was when Republicans turned and said, ‘You know, enough is enough. This has gone too far. Nixon has gone too far,’ and they turned on him. That’s when Nixon had to resign.”

Schweizer said the bottom line was, “When you have somebody who monetizes everything, they don’t see the value in anything. They can turn on you on a dime, and they will turn on you on a dime, and I think a lot of progressives have experienced that because of all the talk about what they want to accomplish, on the things that are valuable to them.”

Bannon said that while the mainstream media was obsessed with stories like the charges of plagiarism over Melania Trump’s speech at the RNC, there was “not one question in 35 hours of debate” about anything in Clinton Cash.

“Folks out there have got to understand something,” Bannon said, adding:

Where you have all this contention about this populist, nationalist, Tea Party, whatever you want to call it, grassroots right and the Republican Establishment, and chapter and verse, you hear it every day on MSNBC and CNN, you never really hear that on the Left. And by the way, there is a simmering, burning anger with the progressive Left about the Clintons, about their corruption, their ownership by corporatism, their ownership by Wall Street and investment banks.

“By the way, not one Wall Street bank is here at this convention paying for anything,” he noted of the RNC, then said:

No corporatists are here. That’s the reason they had to run to Sheldon Adelson, to try to get $6 million; they haven’t paid for anything. The Democratic convention is the exact opposite. The corporatists are in charge of that party. The big banks are in charge of that party. The Clintons are totally beholden to a whole network of relationships, and Peter, you’ve nailed something: they have become transactional.

Bannon compared this to the fall of the Roman Empire, where senators were taking bids for their votes. “That’s what the Clintons represent: graft and corruption. It’s actually in their DNA.”

Bannon concluded the segment by announcing that the Clinton Cash team has been “invited by a very progressive group” to show the film, either next Sunday or next Tuesday, in Philadelphia, with both he and Schweizer on hand to answer questions.

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/...n-white-house/

Trump taps Breitbart boss to head campaign in shake-up




From New York Post

Republican Donald Trump is overhauling his campaign again, bringing in Breitbart News’ Stephen Bannon as campaign CEO and promoting pollster Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager.

The move comes just 82 days before the election and represents yet another shake-up for the tumultuous campaign.

Trump told The Associated Press in a phone interview early Wednesday that he has known both individulas for a long time. He says, “They’re terrific people, they’re winners, they’re champs, and we need to win it,” he said.

Opinion surveys show Trump trailing his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton nationally and in key battleground states.

Trump says his campaign chair, Paul Manafort, will maintain his current role.

The development, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, came after a day in which Trump sent a Facebook message urging an end to bigotry and oppression.

Appearing for a speech Tuesday in Wisconsin, the billionaire real estate mogul accused rival Hillary Clinton of “bigotry” and being “against the police,” claiming that she and other Democrats have “betrayed the African American community” and pandered for votes.

“We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton, which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes — that’s all they care about,” the GOP nominee said in remarks delivered not far from Milwaukee — the latest city to be rocked by violence in the wake of a police shooting.

Trump, who is lagging behind in the polls, accused Clinton of being on the side of the rioters, declaring: “Our opponent Hillary would rather protect the offender than the victim.”

“The riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee is an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and to live in peace,” he said.

http://eheadlines.com/trump-taps-bre...n-in-shake-up/

OK, here we go again. This is due primarily to the toxicity that has surrounded the campaign and even more, the campaigns chairman, Paul Mannafort. He is on his way out as soon as the weight of his business dealings in Russia become a drag on the campaign. This is coming and the campaign has been fortified just in case it becomes an issue and he has to be let go. The additions of Bannon and Conway are a direct result of Trumps dissatisfaction with where he is in the race and the disloyalty he has been experiencing from the anonmous leaks we have seen in the press over the last month.

Trump realizes he can lose (it is too early though) and if he is going to lose, he wants to on his terms. He is being advised by very good people including Roger Ailes who is teaching him how to debate Hillary. There is far too much juice out there with the Clinton Foundation and her 30,000 emails to ignore. She thinks his revelation of his tax returns are a big deal and I think that will only pale next to everything she is hiding.

If Trump chooses to persue unnecessary tangential outbursts between now and November on a weekly basis as he has in the past, his road to the WH will be much more difficult than it had to be. If he chooses to understand and implement the best strategy and people to win the campaign, then he just may be our next president.

Mannafort was not delivering enough - he seemed like a bs'er from the start. In the long run, you have to wake up very early in the morning to get over on Trump. Trump needs real smart & savvy team members running his campaign because he is up against a slew of sleezeballs- hope the new additions work out to be fruitful.

He deserves a good team, he works hard, has good intentions & he is learning the ropes of the political arena. America needs Donald Trump now and all he is offering, The corrupt lying clintons, huma & wiener in the wh is repugnant to say the least.