Only four days after named Donald Trump’s campaign manager, 49-year-old Kellyanne Conway’s already making a difference, with polls showing Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham losing ground. Since the end of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 28, Hillary took a commanding lead on Trump, gaining about nine percent, leading Trump by about six percent. Unlike his prior campaign chair Paul Manafort who resigned Aug. 18, Kellyanne shows a fierce ability to defend her boss. Sixty-seven-year-old Manafort, whose been a campaign operative since Gerald R. Ford in 1973, looked reluctant to go full-throttle defending Trump. Once pushing Trump to release his tax returns while backing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) in the primaries, Kellyanne now defends Trump’s right to get through the audit before releasing his returns.
Kellyanne was critical of Trump during the primaries for not releasing his tax returns. “Now that I am on the inside I know something I didn’t know then, which is he is under audit and what that means,” Conway said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Conway’s change of heart has more to do with her new job as campaign manager than whether or not she understands the ins-and-outs of IRS audits. “He has said clearly, and I back him up completely, that when the audit is completed he’ll released the tax returns,” Conway told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” defending Trump’s right to keep his audit private. Since named campaign manager Aug. 16, Kellyanne has fiercely defended Trump against the onslalught from the Clinton campaign. Hillary’s spin machine was on full display today when 36-year-old campaign manager Robby Mook called Trump a Kremlin “puppet.”
Mook’s hyperbole reminds voters that there’s no limit to the pernicious propaganda in the Hillary campaign. After Manafort resigned Aug 18 over allegations he took cash from ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich, Mook tried to link Trump to Manafort. “I would also point out that Paul Manafort has been pushed out, but that doesn’t mean that the Russians have been pushed out of this campaign,” said Mook implicating Trump with the Kremlin. “We now need Donald Trump to explain to us the extent to which the hand of the Kremlin is at the core of his own campaign,” Mook points fingers at Trump but doesn’t admit that U.S.-Russian relations deteriorated to Cold War lows under Hillary and President Barack Obama. If Hillary becomes president, it’s reasonable to expect more hostility toward the Kremlin, just like the current mess with Russia in Syria.
Raising the Kremlin link to Trump puts Hillary’s spin machine on full display. Instead of commending Trump for wanting a return to the past 60 years of U.S. diplomacy with Russia, Mook goes over the top, accusing Trump of being a Kremlin puppet. Mook’s at the forefront of Hillary’s media blitzkrieg against Trump, saying the 70-year-old real estate mogul promotes violence at his rallies, encourages racism and insults “Gold Star” families, like Hillary operative Khizr Khan. Accepting CEO of the Trump campaign Aug. 16, former Breitbart executive editor 63-year-old Stephen Bannon knows how to respond to Mook’s outrageous accusations. Staying on message in recent campaign events, Kellyanne thinks Trump’s completing a successful “pivot,” looking more presidential. Trump denied any pivot but it’s clear that, under Bannon and Conway, he’s softened his tone.
Watching polls tighten up since Stephen and Kellyanne took over, Hillary responded that Trump’s incapable of real change. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” said Hillary paraphrasing poet Maya Angelou. “I think it’s fair to say that Donald Trump has shown us who he is,” said Hillary, not admitting that her campaign’s been defining Trump as a misogynist and racist for months. Hillary hopes her narrative, especially of Trump’s response to Khizr Khan’s attack at the DNC convention, sticks with Trump. “He doesn’t hurl political insults,” said Conway. “What he’s doing is challenging the Democratic Party. He’s challenging Hillary and President Obama’s legacy,” Kellyanne told CNN’s John King. Whatever Trump’s gaffes on the campaign trail, they’re grossly exaggerated by the Hillary’s “rapid response” communication team.
Bannon and Conway’s presence on the Trump-team has already improved his standing with voters. After defined by Hillary’s spin machine for weeks, Trump’s finally controlling the message, leaving the Hillary campaign scrambling. Much of Trump’s gaffes stem from Robby Mook and Hillary’s “rapid response” team making a mockery of every word on the campaign trail. Now that Bannon and Conway are running the show, expect Trump to respond to Hillary’s attacks more forcefully. Hillary got away with murder for months because Manafort wasn’t a communication guy Bannon and Conway know how to connect on social media, something out of Manafort’s league. Now responding to Hillary’s attacks, Trump’s poll numbers should steadily rise toward Election Day. Without admitting a “pivot,” Trump’s job has been laser focused getting out the message.
