Trump replaces campaign manager amid sinking poll numbers
Washington: US President Donald Trump has shaken up his campaign staff amid sinking poll numbers, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien.
Trump and Parscale’s relationship had been strained since a Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally that drew an unexpectedly low crowd after TikTok users and K-pop fans tricked the campaign into believing more people would attend, infuriating the President. Trump has been struggling in his reelection campaign against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as the country faces health and economic crises during a pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 Americans.
Donald Trump's digital guru Brad Parscale has been replaced by a Republican veteran for the 2020 campaign.Credit:Bloomberg
Trump announced the move on Facebook late on Wednesday, US time. “I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the role of Trump Campaign Manager,” he said. “Brad Parscale, who has been with me for a very long time and has led our tremendous digital and data strategies, will remain in that role, while being a Senior Advisor to the campaign."
The shake-up injected familiar turmoil to Trump’s 2020 campaign, which had so far largely avoided the regular staff churn that dominated his 2016 campaign and his administration. But the staff change might not alter the day-to-day running of the campaign.
Parscale, a political novice, ran Trump’s digital advertising in 2016 and was credited with helping bring about his surprise victory that year. Stepien has been in politics for years, working for former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and serving as Trump’s national field director in 2016.
The poor attendance at the Trump rally in Tulsa might well have been affected by K-pop fans, who banded together online to prank the organisers.Credit:AP/Getty Images
Biden also shuffled his team amid a disastrous stretch in his campaign, albeit much earlier in the cycle. For Biden, the moves marked genuine shake-ups that expanded and changed how campaign operated.
Biden elevated Anita Dunn, effectively displacing his first campaign manager, Greg Schultz, after a fourth-place Iowa finish and after he was already headed for a second embarrassing finish in New Hampshire. Dunn had joined Biden at the outset of his campaign after having served former president Barack Obama as a top communications adviser.
Donald Trump arrives on stage in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20.Credit:AP
With Dunn’s urging, Biden hired his current campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, in March after Dunn and others helped resurrect Biden in Nevada and South Carolina and put him on the path to the nomination. Schultz is now at the Democratic National Committee, helping lead the joint battleground strategy among the national party, the Biden campaign and state parties.
AP