Brad Parscale has some interesting shoes to fill.
The San Antonio-based digital marketing strategist joined a list of high-profile names on Tuesday when he was tapped to run President Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Parscale, a longtime friend of the first family, will follow in the footsteps of former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, the first woman ever to lead a successful presidential campaign; former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been charged with felonies in the Russia probe; former Trump campaign chief executive Steve Bannon, who was excommunicated from Trump world earlier this year; and Corey Lewandowski, the president’s first campaign manager who still chats with him on a near-weekly basis.
Compared to his predecessors, who occupied top leadership posts during varying stretches of Trump’s 2016 campaign, Parscale looks like a safe choice.
The 42-year-old Kansan has kept a relatively low profile, despite his close proximity to the president and his aides. And he is seen among colleagues as a digital genius whose sophisticated data operation delivered several swing-state victories during Trump’s first White House bid.
“On the campaign, he was one of the most senior people there. He had a voice in pretty much every major decision and was always in the room, even though he was based in Texas,” one former campaign aide told the Washington Examiner.
“Everyone knew that he was new to politics — that he wasn’t a political guy — but one of the things that is commendable about Brad is that he didn’t pretend to be a guy with years and years of experience,” the aide continued. “I think that’s why he might be a really good choice for the role [of campaign manager], since he’s willing to install people around him to fill the holes that need to be filled.”
Parscale worked closely with social media giants Facebook and Twitter during the 2016 campaign to reach voters in every corner of America, but especially those in rural areas where Trump’s “America First” message was more likely to resonate.
“I understood very early that Facebook was how Trump was going to win,” he told “60 Minutes” during a segment that aired in 2017. “I think we used it better than anyone ever had in history.”
It was because of the campaign’s digital presence, which he built with presidential son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, that Parscale felt more confident in Trump’s chances than others did on Election Day.
“I can say this for a fact: Brad thought we were going to win,” said the former campaign aide. “I remember a couple days before the election, he was talking to us about the numbers and the trends, saying, ‘The modeling shows us up two points in Pennsylvania.’ I think he was someone who saw that victory could be achieved.”
Sources close to the White House said Parscale’s confidence in the president, paired with a sense of humility that is rarely seen among those in Trump’s orbit, is the reason he’s remained so close to the administration over the past 14 months. According to one former White House official, Parscale would regularly visit the West Wing to chat with Bannon, Kushner, or shoot the breeze with a host of other aides.
“He never stopped being a key element of Trump world,” the official said.
But as a member of Trump world, Parscale has also become enmeshed in the ongoing special investigation into Russian election meddling, jeopardizing his image as a safe choice for campaign chief.
Parscale is closely linked to Cambridge Analytica, a data firm where former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI, briefly served as an adviser. The firm, which specializes in “psychographic polling,” the practice of creating extensive profiles of voters which are then used in microtargeting, convinced Parscale to work with them in 2016.
Both special counsel Robert Mueller and the House Intelligence Committee requested documents from Cambridge Analytica last year as part of their separate investigations, while Parscale himself has been invited to testify before the House Intelligence and Senate Judiciary committees.
Parscale spoke about allegations of Russian collusion shortly before he delivered testimony to House investigators last October, describing the claims as “just a joke.” It is unclear whether he has been interviewed by Mueller’s team, something more than a dozen Trump associates have been asked to do so far.
“Why President Trump hired somebody who has been tainted by this mess is beyond me,” a Republican close to the White House told the Washington Examiner. The source described the decision as “foolish,” especially if the special counsel probe grows worse for the White House.
But the former Trump campaign aide said one reason Parscale’s entanglement in the Russia probe might not matter is because his loyalty to the president is without question.
“I know a lot of Republicans in his town probably saw [Parscale’s appointment] and shook their head, but they’re missing the point: He has the trust of the president. He has the loyalty, and he has the understanding of the president,” the aide said. “There aren’t many people who fit that bill and there aren’t many people who get along with almost everyone in Trump world, either.”
Hours after Parscale was named campaign manager on Tuesday, he announced two more appointments to the president’s re-election campaign that will almost surely sit well with Trump. Campaign spokesman Michael Glassner was promoted to chief operating officer, while the president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump was made senior adviser.
“I am honored to lead President Trump’s reelection campaign committee as the campaign manager and build out a first-class management team that reflects the President’s winning spirit,” Parscale said in a statement.
