Trailing badly in a host of polls, Donald Trump has shaken up his campaign in a renewed attempt to take his battle to the doorstep of Hillary Clinton, who has been coasting along merrily ever since the Democratic convention concluded in Philadelphia three weeks ago.
Trump on Wednesday named Stephen K Bannon, a conservative media executive known for his aggressive ways, as the CEO of his campaign, with pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager. Paul Manafort will remain the campaign chairman and chief strategist. “I want to win. That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win,” the New York billionaire said in an interview ahead of announcing his new hires with just about 80 days to go for the election.
Clinton leads Trump by 6.1 per cent in a Real Clear Politics average of major polls. NBC News had on Tuesday reported that the Democratic nominee was ahead by as much as 9 per cent.
“I am committed to doing whatever it takes to win this election, and ultimately become President because our country cannot afford four more years of the failed Obama-Clinton policies which have endangered our financial and physical security,” Trump said in a statement.
The real-estate mogul has been receiving plenty of advice from influential Republicans in recent days to “stay on message” vis-à-vis Clinton and avoid his tendency to make off-the-cuff remarks that have only landed him in the soup time and again.
His goof-ups have included his public feud with the parents of a slain Muslim-American soldier, his description of President Obama and Hillary Clinton as “co-founders” of ISIS and his loaded comment that supporters of the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) will take care of Clinton if she, as President, named anti-gun ownership justices to the Supreme Court.
Bannon, the new CEO of the Trump campaign, was once dubbed by Bloomberg Politics as the “most dangerous political operative in America”. He will temporarily step down from his position as executive chairman of the conservative Breitbart News Network to work full-time on Trump’s campaign to bolster its “business-like approach”.
This is the second campaign shake-up attempted by Trump in two months. In June, he had replaced his campaign manager Corey lewandowski by naming Manafort as campaign chairman.
Trump has been lagging behind in terms of both campaign organization and ad blitz. While Clinton has already spent millions of dollars, Trump admitted that he would be just making a start in three days.
Clinton, meanwhile, sought to punch holes in Trump’s much-touted national security speech in Ohio on Tuesday.
“It just absolutely bewilders me when I hear Donald Trump trying to talk about national security,” Clinton said at an election rally in Pennsylvania, noting: “We are living in a complex world. One where we need steadiness, where we’ve got to have a real sense of how we’re going to get where we want to go, to help as many people, to keep our country safe. But to do it with the kind of bigness, the kind of confidence that really marks America at our best.”
While Trump sends the wrong message to friends and foes alike across the world, her own national security and foreign policy will be one America can be proud of, Clinton said, adding: “We are going to lead the world in accordance with our value, in pursuance of our interests and furtherance of our security along with our friends and allies.”
Her campaign also attacked Trump for levelling allegations that Clinton lacks the mental and physical stamina for the challenges of presidency, stressing that while Clinton has released her detailed medical and tax records, Trump was still to release his own records.*Trailing in polls, Trump shakes up his campaign