June 20, 2016

"Donald J. Trump has fired his contentious campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski..."

"Mr. Trump had faced increasing concerns from allies and donors, as well as his children, about the next phase of the campaign as he pivots toward the November election," the NYT reports.
Mr. Lewandowski was said to have resisted certain moves that would have increased the staff, at times blocking Mr. Manafort from making hires or later undoing them....

[An anonymous source] said that the campaign is now focusing on bringing the party together, including hiring new staff members and adjusting to the race against Hillary Clinton....

36 comments:

Lauderdale Vet said...

Guy does things that he doesn't want him to do and gets fired.

If that's the truth, then good. I hope it's catchy, and that everyone staffing the VA catches it.

Etienne said...

Manafort lost his job in Kiev, when they threw Yanukovych out, and the glittering mansion Mezhyhirya was taken back by the citizens and made a museum, he joined the Trump campaign last April.

It all sounds like a dumb choice to me, but Trump has been friends with this guy forever (Studio 54 days), and I'm sure some of his fortune had transactions authored by Manafort and his dictators, oops, I mean "clients."

Bob Ellison said...

"Mr. Lewandowski could not immediately be reached for comment about his departure, which was announced by the campaign."

We were lazy and stupid and couldn't find a phone number, so read this, morons.

Nonapod said...

I guess enough time has past since that incident with the Breitbart reporter so it doesn't look like Trump caved. There could be more to it of course, but that's my read. Lewandowski struck me as an ill-tempered homunculus, but to be fair that's how I view most presidential campaign managers.

eric said...

So far I've heard it's because Trump is going to pivot to being more presidential.

Because he has terrible may fundraising numbers and is trying to distract from that.

Because Lewandowski and the other guy, Manafort couldn't get along and there was a lot of tension between the two teams.

Because his children told him to do it.

What I've learned is that the media loves to gossip and pretend like it knows something by citing unammed sources.

Chuck said...




Buh-bye.


Chuck said...




You're fired.


HoodlumDoodlum said...

All right, Chuck's on board the Trump train now! I mean, Trump did what Chuck said he should do, so Chuck gives Trump some credit for doing the right thing (if belatedly).

Embrace your Trump-positive feelings, Chuck. You're influencing Trump and turning him around--you must be so very happy and really looking forward to defeating Hillary Clinton (who you of course don't support at all).

A happy day for Chuck!

Sydney said...

As long as he doesn't hire those guys Romney and McCain hired, it'll be OK.

Chuck said...

HoodlumDoodlum...

I do not support Hillary Clinton. At all. Period. Full stop. Say what you wish about me. I do not support any Clintons. Never voted for Bill. Never supported Hillary. Never even supported any Democrat who now supports Hillary.

You could say, that my last sentence includes Fred and Donald Trump; who have supported Democrats including Jimmy Carter (versus Reagan) in 1980, and more recently with substantial donations to Hillary Clinton campaigns and the Clinton Family Foundation.

mikee said...

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's bribed Dems, coerced Dems, and completely stupid Dems remain tied to her catastrophic self like the fat, happy rats they are, on a ship that is sinking miles from shore. Loyalty - the Clintons can buy it, extort it, and even lie enough to get it!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Gee, Chuck, I'm not sure why you're so insistent you don't support Hillary Clinton. I don't either! I hope most people don't...it isn't something that makes us special.

But shouldn't you congratulate Trump for doing what you wanted him to do--for doing the right thing and firing the guy you said should be fired? Trump came around to your way of thinking, Chuck! Shouldn't you celebrate that?

SayAahh said...

Too little too late. No alchemist could change Trump from a buffoon to a POTUS.
Not going to happen. R.I.P. GOP.

The pathological liar will be enthroned.
Woe is us.

Mark said...

Since my predictions always fail, I will predict this:

Trump will take the podium after the (contentious) balloting at the Convention, kick over the lectern, turn around, drop trou, and moon the delegates while making appropriately rude mouth-sounds.

And some of you will still vote for him in November.

Unknown said...

2008- Samantha Powers is fired from the Obama campaign for calling Hillary Clinton a monster. 2009- Samantha Powers is named US Ambassador to the United Nations by the Obama Administration.

jacksonjay said...

Makes sense now. Lewandowski was making The Donald say all these stupid things, causing his numbers to go down and alienating elected Republicans. Stupid comments got the Trumpster nominated, but now he needs a new con. Mannafort will be putting words in Trump's big trap going forward and all will be well. Got it!

JAORE said...

Well, thank goodness that Trump has some 17 months to develop and fine hone that national campaign mechanism... wait... what?... 2016?

Wow, a bit behind the curve Mr. T.

gadfly said...

According to New York Magazine, Lewandowski was on the way out two months ago when Manafort and his staff was put in charge of almost everything. Some of Lewandowski's underlings resigned when power was taken from them. So why all this stuff about a clash between the new campaign manager and the old one when the decision had already been made? More to the point, how is it that the great business manager, Donald Trump kept two staffs in place?

Nonapod is likely correct that the firing delay was designed to move the dismissal away from Lewandowski's manhandling of Michelle Fields. The Donald looked really bad in lying about the incident - but the Trump Tribe did not care then about his mendacity and will not care now.

Are we really being asked to buy into the tale that the Trump family talked Donald into the firing? So when will the lay-offs of the Lewandowski underlings be announced?

Anonymous said...

Still waiting for the big pivot? No one will influence Trump. He is incapable of pivoting toward being presidential. Doesn't matter who he fires or hires.

Anonymous said...

Pathetic that Trump needs to have his children tell him how to behave.

Rae said...

Lewandowski: "Mr. Trump, you need to imitate that retard reporter. Slur your words and move spastically. You'll win the anti-retard vote."

Trump: "Like this?" *slurs, spazzes"

Lewandowski: "Just like that! Nobody likes a retard. Excuse me, I have to go tackle this well endowed female reporter."

Inga said...

It won't work, but keep hope alive.

eric said...

I've got unammed sources in the Trump camp that tell me they fired him in order to hire Inga.

Ann Althouse said...

Trump's numbers are down? Like he's 5 points behind? Shouldn't she be at least 25 points ahead? Abd how many are undecided? Something like 30%?

Seems like the pro-Hillary riumphalism about the polls is whistling in the dark.

Ann Althouse said...

Triumphalism.

eric said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Trump's numbers are down? Like he's 5 points behind? Shouldn't she be at least 25 points ahead? Abd how many are undecided? Something like 30%?

Seems like the pro-Hillary riumphalism about the polls is whistling in the dark.


I still haven't heard or seen a good explanation as to why he isn't down by 15-25%. I mean, he is barely ahead in Utah,a state Romney won by almost 50%. He is barely ahead in Arizona. Romney won by 12%.

Assuming these numbers are correct, what explains him being behind by so little?

And if, after the convention took, NeverTrump finally shuts up and Trump goes up by 20 in places like Utah, what happens to the national numbers?

jacksonjay said...

I heard something about Hillary being under a criminal investigation.

I heard something about an IG report concerning Hillary's abuse of e-mail at State.

I heard something about pay for play with a certain seat on an intelligence board. Big Clinton donor, Wall Street guy, with no intelligence background.

Yeah, all that should put Hillary about 25 points ahead.

jacksonjay said...


Hell, Obama rushing onto the stage prolly cost her at least 10 points, considering how effective he was as a campaigner in 2009!

Bad Lieutenant said...

Where did you hear about all that, jj? On the front page of every newspaper, channel and site, coordinated for maximum effect?

eddie willers said...

I'm sure he got fine parting gifts.

Oh...and riumphalism works.

grackle said...

I do not support Hillary Clinton. At all. Period. Full stop. Say what you wish about me. I do not support any Clintons. Never voted for Bill. Never supported Hillary. Never even supported any Democrat who now supports Hillary.

Go easy on this commentor. He’s got a strategy and he’s sticking to it: Defeat Hillary by attacking Trump. So simple, so bold, so classically elegant. You have to admire the genius of it. He should hire out as a consultant.

Sometimes the obvious is carefully avoided. As I understand it, Trump hired Manafort to do a particular job. Lewandowski was tasked with an entirely different set of duties, chief among them seemingly to be Trump’s glorified personal assistant while Trump is on the move.

Lewandowski was never what I would call a spokesperson for Trump, although Trump gave him a chance to defend himself on the cables after the “shoving” kerfuffle awhile back. A defense at which Lewandowski proved to be inadequate at best.

But Lewandowski probably(it’s all speculation) meddled in Manafort’s scope of activity. I’ll bet there were one or two warnings that were ignored before this final denouement; Trump strikes me as a softy. But ultimately, in the business world as opposed to a bureaucracy, failure to understand your assigned role leads to ... looking for another gig.

Anonymous said...

Raw Story has an article about Trump asking Lewandowski what his plan was and Lewandowski said it was time for Trump to reveal his VP pick. Supposedly Lewandowski was immediatly fired and escorted out by security personnel.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/what-nobodys-mentioned-about-corey-lewandowskis-firing-it-was-about-trumps-vp-pick/

grackle said...

Seems like the pro-Hillary triumphalism about the polls is whistling in the dark.

I think data mining may augment or replace conventional polling. I found this article on-line. It references the conventional polling of Trump’s Nevada landslide primary victory and an opinion research technique called “data mining:”

Back in February, after claiming a win with 46 percent of the Hispanic vote in Nevada, critics quickly challenged the full sample size of voters captured to disregard the number. Most recently, Latino Decisions published an article called "Why Polls On Latinos Get It Wrong," confirming that current ways of polling are under-representing Latinos' voice.

http://tinyurl.com/z5armnq

A memory refresher about Nevada, if needed:

http://tinyurl.com/jgxzyqj

So the anti-Trumpsters were questioning the validity of the polling that showed Trump did well among Hispanics. Hispanics hate Trump, right?

A data mining company did analysis before the Nevada primary and after the Nevada primary of Hispanics. Here’s their findings, “based on a sample size of over 1 million Hispanics,” which I assume is a nationwide sample:

Based on big data analysis of digital discussions and opinion over the last 30 days as of June 1st, Trump reports 37 percent of positive opinion among Hispanics versus 41 percent for Clinton. Surprisingly, the candidates tie in negative sentiment across Hispanics at 38 percent. The same methodology was used to measure opinion in January of 2016 and Trump reported 14 percent positive opinion/ sentiment and 22 percent in February.

So the data mining confirmed Trump’s relatively high-polling among Hispanics.

Drago said...

"Lifelong republican" Chuck: "I do not support Hillary Clinton. At all. Period. Full stop. Say what you wish about me. I do not support any Clintons. Never voted for Bill. Never supported Hillary. Never even supported any Democrat who now supports Hillary."

Chuck doesn't support Hillary, he just doesn't have the time, inclination, insight or wherewithal to criticize her, her policies or her corruption while Teh Donald is running about.

You know, just like every other "lifelong republican".

eric said...

Blogger Unknown said...
Raw Story has an article about Trump asking Lewandowski what his plan was and Lewandowski said it was time for Trump to reveal his VP pick. Supposedly Lewandowski was immediatly fired and escorted out by security personnel.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/what-nobodys-mentioned-about-corey-lewandowskis-firing-it-was-about-trumps-vp-pick/


This is what gossip, pretending to be news, looks like.

grackle said...

This jumped out at me in the article:

Surprisingly, the candidates tie in negative sentiment across Hispanics at 38 percent.

The MSM these days are happier than a La Raza rioter jumping on a police car that Hillary’s “negatives” are lower than Trump’s “negatives.”

On the candidates’ “negatives,” I’m beginning to believe that these so-called “negatives” could be irrelevant except in the sense that you can safely bet against the “negatives” if you want to make easy money.

Or at least there seems to be no political penalty for high “negatives.” So far, Hillary and Trump have each defied their “negatives” as if they didn’t exist. Maybe it’s time to call bullshit on the “negatives.”