Republican nominee adds two top managers to help stem slide; Paul Manafort remains chairman
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has overhauled his campaign in an effort to make up ground against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Who are Stephen Bannon and KellyAnne Conway? Can the changes keep Trump on message? WSJ National Politics editor Aaron Zitner explains on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: AP
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is bringing two new managers to the top of his campaign in a bid to recover ground he has lost in recent weeks.
Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, an outspoken Trump supporter and a former Goldman Sachs banker, will assume the new position of campaign chief executive. At the same time, Mr. Trump also is promoting Kellyanne Conway, a veteran GOP pollster and strategist, to become campaign manager. Ms. Conway has been a campaign adviser for several weeks.
Longtime Republican operative Paul Manafort, who joined the campaign late in the primary season, remains campaign chairman. But the reset is designed to bulk up a structure that many Republicans have complained wasn’t adequate for the rigors of the general-election campaign.
Mr. Trump’s campaign has fallen further behind Democrat Hillary Clinton in most national and battleground-state polls in recent days, and some Republicans had been hoping for a course adjustment before the traditional Labor Day kickoff of the general-election race.
“I want to win,” Mr. Trump said in an interview Tuesday night in which he disclosed his hires. “That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win.”
Mr. Trump’s campaign has been shaken since the Republican national convention by, among other things, controversies over his feud with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who died in Iraq, and hisassertion that President Barack Obama was the “founder” of the Islamic State. That prompted GOP officials to criticize their nominee for going off script and to urge him to construct a more disciplined campaign.
Mr. Trump initially held to his unorthodox style and structure, arguing that they succeeded in winning the nomination. In recent days, however, Mr. Trump has been working behind the scenes to get more of what he called “firepower” atop his thinly staffed campaign organization, advisers said. On Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Mr. Trump, who sought out Mr. Bannon, met with him and Mr. Manafort to lay out his new thinking for the campaign team.
In recent days, Mr. Manafort has been the subject of numerous news reports about the work he did for a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia. Mr. Manafort will remain an influential strategist, but the group of top advisers at the campaign widens with the new additions.
Separately, in a campaign meeting on Monday, Mr. Trump, his advisers and family members discussed the need for the candidate and campaign to stay on message to avoid giving foes “ammunition against him,” one person familiar with the situation said. That afternoon, Mr. Trump delivered a speech laying out an antiterrorism strategy in which he largely stuck to his teleprompter script.
On Tuesday night Mr. Trump delivered a speech on law and order in Wisconsin, introduced by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a onetime rival.
It isn’t entirely clear what changes the new management will bring, though they are expected to ramp up digital and advertising efforts.
Mr. Trump said he would begin “substantial advertising” this Friday. “Hillary Clinton has spent $100 million on ads, and I’ve spent nothing,” Mr. Trump said. “But I’ve raised a lot of money and put in my own money, and now I’m going to start ads in three days.”
In addition, the new team is likely to beef up campaign work in polling and analytics, areas of strength for Mr. Bannon and Ms. Conway, advisers said.
The appointment of Mr. Bannon is likely to stir its own controversy. Breitbart News, which he runs, is a freewheeling populist news site that has served as a kind of platform for Trump supporters. He has, among other things, helped produce a movie about the personal wealth of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump has known Mr. Bannon, a former Naval officer, for years. Mr. Bannon will take a leave of absence from Breitbart.
The additions to the Trump team represent the second time it has undergone a significant change at the top in recent weeks. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired at the end of June, and his responsibilities were largely assumed by Mr. Manafort.Ms. Conway recently joined the Trump campaign after working for a super PAC that supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but Mr. Trump wanted to promote her and liked the idea of elevating a woman as his campaign manager, one aide said. She is likely to travel frequently with the candidate.
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