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

by BREITBART NEWS
17 Aug 2016
3,441 comments

Niall Stanage and Scott Wong at The Hill write about the panic among the Washington establishment over Republican nominee Donald Trump’s decision to tap Breitbart Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon as his new campaign CEO.

Donald Trump’s campaign shake-up is being seen on Capitol Hill as yet another shot across the bows of the GOP establishment.

The changes in effect demote Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman who had been urging Trump to show more restraint, and promote pollster Kellyanne Conway to the position of campaign manager.

But the real bombshell came with the recruitment of Steve Bannon, an executive with the conservative news organization Breitbart, as the campaign’s CEO.

Breitbart has been synonymous with attacks on the GOP leadership, especially in recent weeks and months. A particular foe: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

[…]

The site has also suggested that Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is insufficiently rock-ribbed when it comes to standing up to Democrats.

That coverage, together with Breitbart’s broader reputation for inflammatory journalism, is causing consternation on Capitol Hill.

That isn’t likely to bother Bannon much — a Bloomberg Businessweek profile 10 months ago referred to his cooption of the phrase “Honey badger don’t give a s**t” as the Breitbart motto.

But Capitol Hill Republicans already disheartened by Trump’s scorched-earth campaign were apoplectic over the Wednesday morning shake-up.

“Breitbart has no credibility outside of the most extreme conservative wing of our party. Frankly, the same could be said of Kellyanne Conway,” one House member and close Ryan ally who has publicly endorsed Trump said in a text-message tirade.

“This would seem to signal that Trump is ready to go double-barrel against all of Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike,” the GOP lawmaker continued. “Breitbart takes a flamethrower to Washington and plays very loose with the facts. I would anticipate an even more bellicose, even less-connected-to-the-facts approach from the Trump campaign moving forward.”

Other sources who spoke with The Hill were much more complimentary of Conway — but, for the most part, just as scathing of Bannon and Breitbart.

[…]

Still, Bannon does have some backers on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), the little-known economic professor who upset then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 GOP primary race, recently appeared on Bannon’s radio show in New York to promote his new book, “American Underdog.”

“Steve Bannon certainly will be great at reflecting the populist issues that have shaken the political world for the past couple years,” Brat told The Hill on Wednesday.

“He has his finger on the pulse of the American people and so I am sure he will make these issues … front and center in this campaign, including the war on ISIS, immigration-related issues, crony trade deals, and using all the levers of American power to ensure that we put the American people first.”

When asked if the Speaker had any issue with a Breitbart executive leading Trump’s campaign, Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck declined to comment.

But Buck raised eyebrows by sending a tweet on Wednesday saying, “Free idea: Election Day on September 8th instead of November 8th.”

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presid...-capitol-hill/

They're in a panic because they're all weak, all talk, no action politicians who have been using their positions to sell out the United States and American Citizens. They're scared of Trump because he's got all their numbers, and now he's reinforced with Bannon. They better start playing ball to help Trump win so he can fix our country.

For those on this forum who did not think Trump had a problem with his campaign several weeks back, this is just more evidence.

This is another step for Trump to professionalize his campaign and hammer away at Hillary. The opposition is using the event to point out weakness (which may ultimately develop into super strength), but allow them their brief moment because campaign changes are always going to occur when the candidate is dissatisfied with the results. As said by KellyAnne about the campaigns candidate, focus on the opponent not the ref or the crowd. If Trump does that in his own way, the WH is within reach. For those concerned about the amount of time left and money, November in politics is a lifetime away and there is plenty of money to begin some of the best television and cable informative attacks against Hillary which have not even occurred to date.

The jettisoning of Manafort will only happen if his association to the campaign becomes a problem regarding his dealings in the past with Russia. His performance for the campaign was plausible and he delivered on his promise to win the nomination through the delegate process. It is not his fault that his candidate or boss veered off course and engaged in senseless tangential outbursts that mired him in the muck for a few weeks (multiple times). The blind cheerleaders will never admit to that. Hopefully the candidate refrains from yelling at the ref or crowd and stays purely focused on Clinton and his policies. As an outsider, this should enable him to reach the WH. His poll numbers were falling and have been stabalized, but quite frankly if you understand statistical analyses, neither one has a clear advantage considering the variation of polling attributes, source and time to event.

For those who think paid staff or anyone else can or should try to control Trump, I think they've misunderstood the reason Trump expanded his staff, hired Stephen Bannon as Chief Executive and promoted Kellyanne Conway to Campaign Manager.

Related:

http://www.alipac.us/f9/trump%92s-ne...2/#post1513957

Judy wrote:

For those who think paid staff or anyone else can or should try to control Trump, I think they've misunderstood the reason Trump expanded his staff, hired Stephen Bannon as Chief Executive and promoted Kellyanne Conway to Campaign Manager.

I don't think I misunderstood the expansion of his staff:

Joe wrote on 6/18 prior to Manaforts departure:

The jettisoning of Manafort will only happen if his association to the campaign becomes a problem regarding his dealings in the past with Russia.

Clearly the association with Manafort and Russia was toxic and could be a huge problem. This situation was remedied earlier in the week as early as Sunday and Trump understood the impact to his campaign if he were to be blindsided by a much larger investigation conducted by a federal agency like the FBI. As the prior manager left due to pressure from Trumps children, Manaforts dismissal was started by Trumps son-in-law Jared due to the lack of confidence stemming from Manaforts choice not to make a complete and full disclosure before joining the campaign about his vetting.


It was also mumbled that Manafort changed some of Trumps position with regard to Russia and the children did not like that change as subtle as it was. He also urged the candidate to pivot and promised the GOP a more presidential Trump. In the end, Manafort disqualified himself and performed a necessary service to the campaign with respect to winning the nomination through the delegate process. Enough said, he has his own troubles now with the FBI.

If you don't think Trump is being closely controlled by KellyAnne, you are missing out on one of the best combinations in politics. Trump clearly trusts her and she has proven to him and Trumps trusted circle that she is able to help him deliver his message properly, back pedal when necessary, review speeches for hidden liabilities and keep him on focus which she has been doing since she took over. She has already convinced him to appeal to the voters he has the least appeal to. Conventional republicans will eventually warm up to the phase of the campaign and the women, African-American and Latino voters will be chipped away at over the next 80 days, courtesy KellyAnne.

Being controlled does not mean he is a puppet, reads only from a teleprompter or does not have his own ideas. In this case it means staying focused or on message, avoiding unnecessary outbursts or attacks that detract from the campaign and speaking with much more clarity and detail in speeches versus the same old stump speech.

Trump is also being applauded for his quick ascent in reading a teleprompter and not appearing as if he is.