Mr. Manafort resigns as Trump’s campaign manager, after a wave of reports about Mr. Manafort's own business dealings with Russia-aligned leaders in Ukraine. These dealings involved allegations of millions of dollar cash payments and secret lobbying efforts in the United States, whom had relations to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The change caused Donald Trump to hire his third campaign manager in the same amount of months. Trump fired his first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski back in June after the campaign began to spiral downward after the convention. After Manafort's resignation Trump issued a statement; “I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today.” Manafort was brought in to try and normalize the Trump campaign. Mr. Manafort, 67, who had managed national Republican conventions in the past, was hired in late March, when Trump was trying to capture the amount of delegates to secure the party nomination. Manafort, a long time republican who has previously hosted the Republican Convention before, was expected to normalize Trump’s campaign after taking over as the campaign manager after Lewandowski’s departure. Although his time on the Trump campaign was short lived, Manafort made major contributions during his tenure. Manafort stopped the "Never Trump" campaign in the republican party by shutting down an uprising on the floor during the first day of the convention, and he was one of the main people in his circle to push for the VP choice of Mike Pence.
To replace Manafort Trump has decided to hire Breitbart news chairman Stephen Barron as the campaign’s chief executive, and Trump hired republican pollster Kellyanne Conway as the new campaign manager. Terry Sullivan, who ran Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, said Mr. Trump and Barron “both play to the lowest common denominator of people’s fears. It’s a match made in heaven.” With Hillary Clinton leading in the majority of polls, it is evident that the Trump campaign has stumbled since the Republican Convention, where Trump held a short lead over Hillary. Trump has hurt himself with many controversial comments that have offended many groups of people. However, these circumstances have made a far more negative impact for him in the general than they did in the Republican primaries.
The Trump campaign needs to take a new direction and angle. With the new change in leadership we can see an early change in the campaign; Trump announced at a rally that he actually regretted some of the more offensive things he has said — though without specifying which statements. And on Friday, Mr. Trump toured flood-ravaged areas of Baton Rouge.
Trump should not have a problem beating out a candidate that has is one of the most distrusted candidates in U.S. political history. Trump needs to focus on attacking Hillary exclusively, and needs to convince America that he is the best man for the job. Trump has to avoid making vital mistakes as the campaign begins to heat up in the next couple of weeks. It is up to the campaign leadership to keep Trump accountable, and advise him accordingly. Whether Barron and Conway will be able to do this remains to be seen. Neither of the two new hires have experience in running a campaign. This is another bold move by Donald Trump, but what hasn’t been bold about this campaign? Make sure to watch out how the Trump campaign turns from here.
