Now that President Trump has swapped out the person running his reelection campaign, I guess we can fully expect a complete turnaround of those dismal poll numbers, right?!
Come on, guys. Right?! Guys?
Trump on Wednesday evening triumphantly tweeted that someone named Bill Stepien has been “promoted” to campaign manager and that Brad Parscale, who up until then had been leading things, would basically share the job with Stepien (meaning Parscale was demoted).
This will change precisely nothing about the way things are going. The problem with Trump’s campaign isn’t who’s putting out ads on TV and Facebook. The problem is Trump.
Since the race riots broke out at the end of May, the president has been rudderless. He didn’t know what to do about the issue, so he went underground. When he finally emerged, he walked across the street from the White House to hold up a Bible in front of a church. The incident did not make him look strong. It made him look confused.
Trump had appeared at least productive in managing the spread of the coronavirus, but that perception is long gone as he’s publicly quibbled with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s expert on infectious disease, and ranted about too many tests rendering too many positive cases.
Trump has tweeted small and tacky insults about Republican Sen. Mitt Romney being infected with the virus after the senator tested negative. He tried picking a fight over a controversy everybody had moved on from. He suffered the delusion that it was somehow a good idea for him to throw himself into defending the Confederate flag.
All of this has been a godsend for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who until recently looked lame but now, by contrast, at least looks like an adult who hasn’t frustrated himself and wet his own bed.
It’s not too late for Trump, but he’s choking. A new campaign manager isn’t going to change that. Only Trump can.
