The man in charge of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign says Donald Trump’s status as the Republican front-runner is built on the theft his opponents’ strengths.
John Brabender, who acted as Santorum’s senior strategist during his 2012 White House bid and currently manages the Pennsylvania senator’s presidential campaign, joined a host of top campaign staffers Monday at an event co-hosted by National Review Online and Google.
Trump ranks first in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings and Santorum is fifteenth.
After addressing Santorum’s bottom-tier status, Brabender was asked to discuss Trump’s monumental impact on the GOP field.
“Trump has stolen something from almost every candidate who has hurt him and helped himself,” he told moderator and National Review editor Rich Lowry.
The veteran campaign staffer offered up an example, describing Trump’s blunt messaging and unapologetic demeanor as a successful variation of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “tell it like it is” slogan.
Similarly, some immigration experts previously accused Trump of stealing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s spotlight as a leading hardliner on immigration, leaving Walker scrambling to regain his position as a GOP favorite before deciding to withdraw from the race Monday.
Santorum has yet to make it onto the stage for a primetime Republican debate this election cycle. He has polled at less than 1 percent for most of the summer, according to polling data from RealClearPolitics.
