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Title: Trump campaign claims it fired top adviser -- who says he quit
Source:
CNN
URL Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/08/polit ... ld-trump-campaign-roger-stone/
Published: Aug 8, 2015
Author: MJ Lee and Dana Bash
Post Date: 2015-08-08 20:21:33 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 17763
Comments: 174
Stone's disassociation from the Trump operation Saturday highlights the campaign's seeming lack of veteran political advisers, even as the 2016 season is ramping up in earnest. And the dispute opens a window into two different factions of the campaign: one side that wants to maintain Trump's high visibility by capitalizing on his public feuds and bombastic rhetoric, and another that wants to pull the candidate toward more disciplined political strategy. The episode caps a tumultuous few weeks for Trump's presidential campaign, which recently cut ties with two men accused of writing inflammatory Facebook posts. Trump, who is currently leading national polls, delivered an explosive performance at the first GOP debate in Cleveland Thursday, and went on to make inflammatory comments about Fox News host Megyn Kelly in an interview on CNN Friday night. "Mr. Trump fired Roger Stone last night. We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again," a campaign spokesperson told CNN. Stone, however, told CNN that he "categorically denies" being fired, and provided what he said was his resignation letter. "Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message. With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign," the letter to Trump says. Stone added: "I care about you as a friend and wish you well. Be assured I will continue to be vocal and active in the national debate to ensure our nation does not again turn to the failed and distrusted Bush/Clinton families." Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the team never saw Stone's letter. For his part, Stone tweeted Saturday afternoon that he "fired Trump." The Washington Post first reported that Stone was no longer a part of Trump's campaign. Matt Mackowiak, a Republican political consultant and close friend of Stone's, told CNN that Stone was deeply disappointed with Trump's debate performance Thursday. Stone, a former aide to President Richard Nixon who has known Trump for several decades, helped with the candidate's debate preparations. He had hoped that Trump would stay focused and disciplined, sticking largely to issues like illegal immigration and trade. Instead, Stone concluded that Trump had taken the debate to a "circus-like place." The working relationship between Stone and Trump became further strained when Trump made controversial comments about Kelly in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon. "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes," Trump told Lemon. "Blood coming out of her wherever." "Calling into CNN and making outrageous comments about Megyn Kelly and making it even more of a circus than it already is, Roger just felt like he couldn't stand by him," Mackowiak said. Mackowiak also said Stone had planned to announce his resignation Saturday night, and when Trump got word, the candidate announced he had fired Stone. One Trump associate and friend also told CNN that existing tensions between Stone and Trump reached a breaking point following the candidate's explosive debate performance. "He has been disenchanted with Trump for a few weeks now," the associate said, citing Stone's perception that Trump's candidacy lacked "seriousness." According to this source, Stone was unhappy with Trump's conduct on the debate stage in Cleveland, and when Stone shared these thoughts with Trump, the billionaire businessman "didn't want to hear it." Another Republican source close to Stone said the adviser resigned in part because he grew frustrated with the campaign's refusal to focus on policy specifics and conduct polling. "Roger has been trying to press the campaign to get specific on issues, to poll, to run an actual campaign, while others in Trumpland have been egging him on to continue to engage in these political food fights like the Megyn Kelly incident," the Republican source said. Speaking with CNN's Poppy Harlow late Saturday afternoon, Stone again insisted he quit, saying he felt he "was having no impact." He said he hoped Trump would return to speaking about the "big picture" issues, such as trade and immigration, that helped fuel his rise to the top of GOP polls. But Stone refused to elaborate in greater detail about how his relationship with the campaign ruptured, saying he had "no intention about talking about internal campaign deliberations." He did say, however, that he and Trump remain friends, and although he isn't a registered Republican, said he would continue to back a Trump bid. "If I had the opportunity to vote for him in the primaries, I would," he said. "I still think he is the right man to make America great again." Poster Comment: Roger Stone is Trump's longtime political adviser and ally, going back decades. (CNN)Donald Trump's campaign said Saturday it has fired top political adviser Roger Stone -- who promptly denied being let go and insisted he had quit. "Sorry @realDonaldTrump didn't fire me- I fired Trump. Diasagree [sic] with diversion to food fight with @megynkelly away core issue messages," the tweet read.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 63.
#1. To: All (#0)
(Edited)
Stone is the second Trump adviser to leave in the last 10 days. Apparenty, Trump now only has his corporate lawyer and his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. And some campaign spokesbabe, well, unless she's bleeding from somewhere and can't come to the microphone. A photo of Roger Stone. Some might recall that in the Nineties, Stone was in a swingers club scandal. When he was younger, he had a physique and dressed and lived like a James Bond jetset type, the whole Playboy lifestyle thing from the Sixties and Seventies. Politico says two other Trump campaign insiders have confirmed that Stone quit and was not fired first. They also report this conversation between Trump and Stone on Friday morning. Trump: What do you mean? I won the debate. People loved it. Stone: You didn't win the debate. Trump: Yes I did. Look at the polling. Look at Drudge. Stone: The Drudge Report poll isn't a scientific poll. You won't give me the money to pay for a scientific poll. And you're off-message. Trump: There are other polls. Stone: Those are bullsh*t polls, Donald. They're not scientific polls. We need to run a professional campaign and talk about what people really care about. Trump: We're winning.
Trump is right: he is winning. Stone is an old political hack. Nixon. NIXON, for God's sake. Trump needs to stick with his instincts and carry himself forward. He had the only substantive policy proposal of the debate: health insurance common market. He needs to keep doing that: keep punching the people who need to get punched, and keep giving a policy view or two. He's forcing the GOP to decide whether or not they want to actually win the election. So far, it looks like they care more about retaining control of their party internally than winning.
More of the "very best" campaign staff that Trump has recruited. Tana Goertz, his campaign co-chair in the battleground state, said that she was not offended by Trump's suggestion that Kelly asked him tough questions because there was 'blood coming out of her wherever'. Goertz instead said the abuse is part of political debate, saying: 'If you mess with the bull you're going to get the horns, sweetheart'. Very classy, totally first class. Trump seems to be running for prez as Il Duce II, an American Mussolini. A crude man with crude associates and staff.
Are you on your period today? That would explain your nonsense.
You get so angry when I post info about Trump's statements, history and his so-called campaign staff. At some point, you'll have to ask yourself why you are supporting a clown that forces you to defend so much amateurism and being an obnoxious blowhard. Don't you deserve a better candidate than Trump?
Trump would do just fine. Cruz would too. Except Cruz isn't as good on the ec economy. He supported the trade deal. I prefer Trump to Hillary every day of the week. You on the other hand would sit out and let Hillary win because she is basically Bush in drag.
Trump supported the big bank bailouts. Trump supported the Kelo decision. You can't say the same for Cruz. I don't see why exactly you think Trump is better than Cruz. Cruz has had some problems of his own with running his mouth a little too much but he is a much more credible candidate than Trump. Trump does draw more support from Cruz than from any other GOP candidate, a perfect illustration of how supporting Trump now leads to a Bush victory after Florida in the same way that all the frontrunners-of-the-week in 2012 did nothing to stop Romney from the nomination, they just delayed his nomination and made Romney weaker in the general election, giving Obama an easy victory.
Cruz is better on some things and Trump is better on some things. They are both better better then everyone else running. Cruz supports NSA to much. He supported the Iraq war didn't he? Trump didn't. You didn't either did you?
Trump didn't. You didn't either did you? Cruz isn't bad on NSA. He's closer to Rand than to the rest of the cowardly Senate. Cruz was solicitor-general in the Bush administration, ably defending his cases. On Iraq, Cruz was likely supportive but of no consequence. I fell for Bush's lies and supported the invasion until after we took the Iraqi nuclear facility (al-Tuwaitha) and the other supposed WMD sites and found nothing illegal and everything as the inspectors told us it was. I did not vote for Bush in 2004 based on the warmongering and the huge expansion in federal spending and scope.
The Iraq invasion took place a mere 18 months after 9-11. Given the mood of the country, had Bush not invaded this hostile Arab country building weapons of mass destruction he would have been impeached. Show of hands. Who wants to wait for another 9-11? You can't sit at your computer in the year 2015, knowing what you know now, and judge everyone's decisions back then.
By a Republican House? You could at least pretend to be serious. There is a big difference between what a prez or the NSC or the intel agencies or Pentagon knows and what an ordinary citizen knows. We pursued the regime change agenda that was formalized in the late Nineties against Saddam. Nothing more. The ruling classes had plentiful information that Saddam was in no way connected to the 9/11 attacks. Saddam was used as a whipping boy to hide the extent of Wahhabist ideology exported across the region in the 9/11 attack. And that threat has not subsided (though a fair amount of the jihadism has been diverted into the new Caliphate under ISIS).
#66. To: TooConservative (#63)
F**k the House. By the people.
Absolutely! My writing essentially the same thing during the build up to "Protect Saudi Arabia by invading Iraq" was what finally got me booted for life from FR. The Bush Bots were all getting the vapors,including Jim Rob.
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Stone: Donald, stop with the Megyn Kelly sh*t. It's f**king crazy. It's killing us.
#4. To: TooConservative (#1)
#6. To: Vicomte13 (#4)
A Donald Trump official leading his political campaign in Iowa has said his attacks on Fox News host Megyn Kelly are 'fair game'.
#7. To: TooConservative (#6)
#9. To: A K A Stone (#7)
Are you on your period today? That would explain your nonsense.
#10. To: TooConservative (#9)
Don't you deserve a better candidate than Trump?
#11. To: A K A Stone (#10)
Trump would do just fine. Cruz would too. Except Cruz isn't as good on the ec economy. He supported the trade deal.
#14. To: TooConservative (#11)
I don't see why exactly you think Trump is better than Cruz.
#48. To: A K A Stone (#14)
Cruz supports NSA to much. He supported the Iraq war didn't he?
Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz was the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate deputy attorney general at the United States Department of Justice, and domestic policy advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, after being appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[6] He was the first Hispanic,[4][7] the youngest[4][8] and the longest-serving solicitor general in Texas history.[9] Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, from 2004 to 2009.
#61. To: TooConservative (#48)
"I fell for Bush's lies and supported the invasion"
#63. To: misterwhite (#61)
(Edited)
The Iraq invasion took place a mere 18 months after 9-11. Given the mood of the country, had Bush not invaded this hostile Arab country building weapons of mass destruction he would have been impeached.
You can't sit at your computer in the year 2015, knowing what you know now, and judge everyone's decisions back then.
Replies to Comment # 63. "By a Republican House?"
#133. To: TooConservative (#63)
We pursued the regime change agenda that was formalized in the late Nineties against Saddam. Nothing more. The ruling classes had plentiful information that Saddam was in no way connected to the 9/11 attacks. Saddam was used as a whipping boy to hide the extent of Wahhabist ideology exported across the region in the 9/11 attack. And that threat has not subsided
End Trace Mode for Comment # 63.
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