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Title: "Disarray": Team Trump laying off staffers in key swing states?
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/ ... -staffers-in-key-swing-states/
Published: Apr 5, 2016
Author: Allahpundit
Post Date: 2016-04-06 07:35:25 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 2864
Comments: 31
We were destined to see a major “Trump in disarray!” piece from political media on a day when he’s looking at a loss in Wisconsin, just like we’re destined to see “Trump comeback!” pieces two weeks from now when he wipes the floor with Cruz in New York. Even so, the layoffs reported here are odd. What possible reason could a billionaire candidate have to slash staff at a moment when he’s desperate for people to help him organize his battle for delegates with Cruz? Even if he had the nomination locked up, why would he want to shed staffers in states like Ohio and Florida for which he’ll have to fight tooth and nail in November? One of the biggest worries among political pros in having Trump as nominee is that Democrats will run rings around him organizationally, given his strategy of trying to beat Cruz’s superior GOTV operations through sheer media muscle. Now here he is stripping his already mediocre organization down further. Why the hell would he do that? I’ve said this before but it can’t be said enough: As well as he’s done in the primaries thus far, imagine how well Trump could be doing if he’d spent big money on organization and ads. It’s not overstating it to say that Ted Cruz still has a chance at the nomination only because Trump’s inattentiveness to campaign fundamentals (and frugality?) has permitted it. Only four of 11 Iowa staffers continued on after Trump lost that state’s caucuses in February. More recently, most of Trump’s South Carolina, Florida and Ohio teams have not had their contracts renewed, according to a person familiar with the campaign, who said the lack of organization in Florida was putting Trump at a disadvantage in the delegate selection process… Multiple staffers and advisors left the campaign last month in protest of the way its management was treating its staff, a source familiar with the departures told POLITICO. “I believe that Donald Trump has the backbone to fix this country, but if changes are not made soon at the top I am fairly convinced that he will lose,” said one of the people who left the campaign. The person said morale among the campaign staff is sinking, attributing that to the layoffs, as well as Lewandowski’s profanity-laced outburst on campaign calls. “I don’t think Mr. Trump knows what’s happening on his campaign,” the person said, adding “everyone is in astonishment of what’s going on. It’s almost like they’re sabotaging themselves.” The head of the data team was reportedly laid off a month ago and was replaced by his deputy, who hadn’t spent much time on political strategy before joining Team Trump. If you believe Politico, some of the campaign’s files are now inaccessible since the lead data guy left. Corey Lewandowski naturally denies that there’s any disarray and that anyone’s ever objected to him cursing, although the fact that his role in the campaign is reportedly shrinking is further circumstantial evidence that strange things are afoot. Ah well. At least Trump’s “private mercenary force” of security people is still on its game. Question for campaign pros: Assuming that Politico’s theory of “disarray” is hyperbole, what’s the logical explanation for laying off staffers during crunch time of a long primary with a general election on the horizon? Is the campaign running low on cash with Trump unwilling to pony up what he needs to make the delegate fight with Cruz more competitive? If so, isn’t that another way of saying that he doesn’t want to be president that badly? I’m skeptical of that theory, but more people seem to be coming around to it every week: “There is a lifelessness to the Trump campaign lately, a kind of refusal to stand up and do the hard work of reuniting a party that he has shattered or building an organization that can mount an effective national campaign.” He’s barely begun building a fundraising network, per New York magazine, which he’ll surely need to keep pace with Democrats, even though he’s been the national frontrunner for nearly a year and could find himself at the start of the general election campaign as soon as … tomorrow, really, if Wisconsin goes his way tonight. Is the explanation just that Trump’s been winging it since the beginning and intends to keep doing so for the duration of the campaign? That’s a fine argument for delegate to choose him over Cruz on the floor in Cleveland. Semi-relatedly, here’s a snapshot of Reuters’s national tracking poll among likely Republican voters since January 1st. The orange line is Trump, the red line is Cruz. What’s different lately? I doubt you’ll see any of that Cruzmentum show up in New York two weeks from now, but if you’re searching for evidence that his (likely) win in Wisconsin tonight is a sign of a broader national shift, there you have it. Poster Comment: Trump could have had this locked up a while back. He wouldn't be in this position at all if he hadn't hadn't a snit over being in the Iowa debate because he thought Megyn Kelly would spurt some blood at him or something. At the moment, though, Trump’s team appears to be something of a patchwork group without much experience—partly because so many staffers are being fired. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
#1. To: TooConservative (#0)
Trump is a whiz bang businessman. But that is a totally different skill set from being a politician. He has self inflicted a lot of wounds.
It's just amateurish, all here-today-gone-tomorrow kind of organization. Much as Carson's was. It's very puzzling. How can you run for prez and know so little about the mechanics of winning a nomination, let alone a general election? And yet, Trump is not stupid and he could certainly hire a few pros to give him the right advice. Trump has survived on earned media and dominating news cycles for so long that he totally undervalues organizational strength. Only in the last few weeks has he seemed to consider organization. But his decisions on staffing argue against an ability to clinch the nomination and he has no organization to run a national campaign with. Trump has a reality show masquerading as a presidential campaign. He would have locked up the nomination easily if he hadn't left so many delegates on the table in places like Iowa (where his debate snit allowed Cruz a victory that helped keep him alive as a candidate). You only get so many unforced errors in a nomination contest.
Trump is no doubt an excellent businessman. But that does not translate into political acumen. Two entirely different skill sets.
Even that is not a very good explanation. When Trump has started businesses, he didn't overlook hiring competent help in areas outside his expertise. When he did his Trump ties, he still did marketing research, hired designers and overseas middlemen to find the factories and the workforce to produce these ties. But when it comes to an obviously complex game like grabbing a major party political nomination, he seems to think talking about his polling, acting like a crybaby and threatening to go home, and tweeting late into the night is how you win a nomination. Which makes no sense at all. If Trump fails to get the GOP nomination, he'll be entirely to blame for it. Not his supporters, not his staff. Trump alone will be to blame.
Agree.
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#2. To: Stoner, tomder55 (#1)
#5. To: TooConservative (#2)
" It's just amateurish, "
#9. To: Stoner (#5)
Trump is no doubt an excellent businessman. But that does not translate into political acumen.
#12. To: TooConservative (#9)
" If Trump fails to get the GOP nomination, he'll be entirely to blame for it. Not his supporters, not his staff. Trump alone will be to blame. "
Replies to Comment # 12.
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