No matter what poll he looks at — including internal ones from his own campaign team — President Donald Trump sees that he’s losing to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, and it has him so unnerved that he’s suggesting it might be time to dump his campaign staff and start over, Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair reports:
“Seeking to change the trajectory of the race, Trump is now discussing a shake-up to his campaign leadership, three sources close to the White House told me. Two sources said Trump has told people he wants to install 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a senior role. “Trump’s feeling is, ‘why are we losing everywhere?’ The president is sick of it,” another former West Wing official said.
The fact that Trump sees everyone else as being the problem instead of doing a moment of self-reflection and realizing that his disastrous policies and frantic performances at press conferences are what has American voters worried, is classic Donald Trump: The problem must lie with those around him, because in his mind, Trump is perfect.
Current campaign manager Brad Parscale has been the subject of Trump’s ire in recent weeks. Not long ago, Trump reportedly threatened to sue Parscale for not doing a better job as head of the 2020 reelection team. Sherman notes that the president is angry Parscale is making so much money yet getting only negligible returns:
“Trump was said to be annoyed last month about a largely positive profile of Parscale in the New York Times Magazine. Trump had already been irked by Parscale because of the talk that Parscale, a former website designer from San Antonio, had made millions of dollars through his companies from Trump’s campaigns and bought a Ferrari.
How’s that for irony? Trump is mad that someone is getting rich off the efforts of others and also failing to deliver in exchange for his inflated salary. Isn’t that pretty much the story of Donald Trump’s career in business?
There also seems to be no overarching strategy for the 2020 race, with some on the campaign team saying the reopening of the country will supercharge the economy and Trump can claim credit for it all. But that also has risks, especially if unemployment stays high and Americans continue to struggle financially.
Also, there’s anxiety that Republicans seeking reelection in November may dump the president as a last-ditch effort to save their own hides:
“The numbers are fucking terrible,” another former West Wing official said. “There’s massive anxiety in the GOP that he’s gonna take them all down with him.”
Then again, if Trump does indeed self-immolate and take the GOP with him, that might just be exactly what the country needs.
Featured Image Via NBC News
