Former President and presidential hopeful Donald Trump has fortified his campaign with several leading GOP veteran strategists, largely ditching his 2020 campaign team.
Susie Wiles, a campaign strategist largely credited with possible 2024 challenger Ron DeSantis’s (R) wildly successful 2018 campaign for Florida governor, is playing a leading role in the campaign, Time reported.
Another successful GOP veteran, Chris LaCivita, has also taken on a leading role. Other well-regarded allies such as former White House Political Affairs Director Brian Jack, longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio, former White House Assistant Communications Director Steven Cheung, former Republican National Committee spokeswoman Liz Harrington, Republican fundraiser Sergio Gor, and conservative digital ad strategist Gary Colby remain in close contact for the campaign as well.
Meanwhile, his “Washington-centric” 2020 campaign advisers have mostly been ditched, including controversial figures like Rudy Giuliani, the outlet reported.
TRUMP CONSIDERS VETERAN GOP CONSULTANT FOR TOP ROLE IN PROSPECTIVE 2024 CAMPAIGN: REPORT
GOP figures sang high praise for Wiles and LaCivita in particular.
“[Wiles] knows the ins and outs of grassroots-ground-game politics, and, as well as being the sweet woman that she is, she’s also tough as nails—that is a very good combination to have when helping someone run for President of the United States,” Trump’s former White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told the outlet.
LaCivita, the other high-profile addition, gained fame for his efforts in organizing the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth to campaign against Democratic nominee John Kerry in 2004, contributing to his defeat. The GOP veteran and Trump loyalist could at least partially replace the role previously played by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who acted as a senior adviser in 2016 and 2020 and served as a White House adviser along with his wife, Ivanka Trump.
Despite the solid campaign team, some fear that other controversial figures could join and sabotage the campaign.
“The list right now is impressive, it’s serious,” a former Trump White House official told Time. “A key question mark for people is: Can Trump resist the impulse to reach out to s***heads and trust the people he’s with that are solid?”
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Donald Trump is so far the only candidate to declare a 2024 presidential run, but other respected Republican figures, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have also hinted at plans to run.
