Late-night shows have been off for two weeks due to the Olympics, and in that short amount of time Donald Trump miraculously managed to tank his campaign even further than many could dream between that whole “Second Amendment people” debacle and calling President Obama the founder of ISIS, before pulling a 180 and pivoting his campaign reboot for the umpteenth time. It’s been a busy couple of weeks!
But is it really a pivot? On Monday night Seth Meyers took a closer look at Trump’s brand new campaign, which has him receiving praise from the right wing for his newfound maturity. As Meyers points out, however, they’re talking about Donald Trump the way people talk about a 5-year-old wearing a suit at a wedding: “Well aren’t you a mature little gentleman!”
Look no further than Trump’s campaign shakeup to know this so-called “pivot” isn’t going to take. Meyers reminds us that the candidate has surrounded himself with some of the most controversial figures in conservative media: Breitbart head Steve Bannon, ousted Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, and conservative political consultant Roger Stone. So instead of toning down his fiery rhetoric, Trump is hiring people who will only push him to become even more controversial. Or as Meyers puts it, “Trump is like an alcoholic who fires his doctor and starts getting medical advice from his bartender.”
It only goes downhill from there, and despite insistence from his people attempting to ignore basic poll data, it’s pretty clear that Trump’s campaign is in pretty bad shape. Anyone waiting for the candidate to truly pivot is going to be holding their breath.