To the surprise of no one who has followed Donald Trump’s campaign as it has grown and morphed into something more potentially sinister than anyone could have imagined, it is not exactly the smoothest running machine. Yes, his public relations team is working on all cylinders and his marketing touch has not flagged one bit in the shift from hawking steaks to insulting his way into the oval office, but the campaign team itself is reportedly falling apart at the seams just as his push for the White House reaches a crucial junction in advance of the Republican National Convention. The New York Times says that after the dismissal of his national political director Rick Wiley this week, “a constant stream of changes and scuffles are unsettling teams.”
That is probably not what the GOP is hoping to hear coming out of his camp only a few days after confirming Trump as the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Further leaked details (reportedly coming from sources inside Trump Tower itself) range from his penchant for feuding with people on his own team instead of presenting a unified front, to failing to sanction an official PAC for his donors to contribute to for the general election, to just generally not seeming like he wants to be President all that badly. That last one is particularly shocking seeing as he has put his own money into the campaign and exposed himself to personal attacks from the media and the opposition by mounting this run for the highest office in the land. That he doesn’t act like he wants to win outside of his stump speeches and crazy Twitter rants may add more fuel to the conspiracy theory that Trump’s entire campaign is a joke and he didn’t even plan to make it this far, nonetheless actually win.
The New York Times piece even noted that a “sense of paranoia is growing among his campaign staff members.” Some of those staff members expressed concern that that their New York Trump Tower offices have been bugged.
Trump made sure to slide in an insult when he declined to comment on the reports, as is his usual choice.
Asked for comment about his management style, and the current state of his campaign, Mr. Trump declined, criticizing the reporters writing this article. “You two wouldn’t know how to write a good story about me if you tried — dream on,” Mr. Trump said in an email relayed by his spokeswoman, Hope Hicks.
Of course, he then chimed in on all of the allegations and leaks via Twitter.
Don't believe the biased and phony media quoting people who work for my campaign. The only quote that matters is a quote from me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2016
So to recap, Trump is failing to take any of the Republican Party’s advice when it comes to changing his public image, soliciting additional donations, declining to expand his campaign staff to match the size of Hillary Clinton’s, and basically ignoring any and all suggestions from people around him about how to win the general election. As a reminder, it is only the end of May so brace yourselves for a doozy of a six month stretch from now until Election Day 2016. No matter which side of the aisle you fall on, Trump’s campaign falling apart in a very public way will be a sight to see if it continues down this same path. Make America Great Again, indeed.
(via The New York Times)