Still... A Desperate Move By A Weird, Desperate Man
Democratic voter registration has been surging since Biden announced he would be retiring, an unheard of 176% increase since 2020— driven primarily by women, voters of color and young voters. And among young Black women— wait for it— registration has tripled relative to the same time in 2020. Tom Bonier of TargetSmart reports that young Hispanic women are way up there as well. What does that mean in terms of voting in November? As long as Republican efforts to disenfranchise voters are unsuccessful, the impact will contribute to a blue wave. “Democratic registration has increased by over 50%, as compared to only 7% for Republicans.”
This is also beginning to be reflected in national polling averages, which show Kamala with momentum and Trump basically flatlined. According to the 538, she’s ahead by 3.4 points and ahead in 6 of the 8 swings states:
Arizona- Kamala +0.8
Georgia- Trump +0.7
Michigan- Kamala +3.0
Nevada- Kamala +0.8
New Hampshire- Kamala +7.0
North Carolina- Trump +0.3
Pennsylvania- Kamala +1.4
Wisconsin- Kamala +3.5
Aside from rage-tweeting all hours of day and night, Trump’s response has been to bring back one of MAGA world’s most controversial characters, Corey Lewandowski, his 2016 campaign manager, to take over the campaign from more respected professional Susie Wiles (and Chris LaCivita). On Monday, Jake Lahut looked into the back-story, noting that the apolitical attempted assassination “cracked open the door just enough for Corey Lewandowski… to take the battered crowbar of his political career and wedge his way back into the palace by mid-August.” Lewandowski, a sex predator like Trump, has a hard time controlling himself. Also noteworthy: he loses most of his races and many of his clients and associates wind up in prison.
No one was quite sure what his role was though. As “personal envoy,” Trump clearly wanted him to shake up the campaign. We’re told to “expect more free wheeling policy speeches slash press conferences to inject Trump back into the news cycle, a return to old school Trumpworld infighting.”
Only with the backdrop of the assassinaton could Lewandowski have made his unlikely comeback. The hire also says something about the Trump campaign’s approach to a reshaped race, once again counting on someone to bring back the magic of 2016.
It has led to a strange mood inside Trumpworld. There’s a privately reluctant yet publicly whole hog embrace of Lewandowski, who— despite his past sexual harassment scandals and laying hands on conservative journalist Michelle Fields in 2016— has waltzed into a newly created power position within the campaign.
“Look, just having someone question the campaign managers, it has a chilling effect,” a Trump campaign source told Tara Palmeri at Puck last week. “Like someone is watching.”
Technically, Lewandowski is not the campaign manager. On paper, that job is still shared between Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, a duo widely credited for a more professionally run operation and a semblance of message discipline, particularly when it came to keeping him off of Twitter.
However, the MAGA faithful around the Trump campaign are treating Lewandowski like the new sheriff in town.
One of the clear signs came last Tuesday when Trump delivered a low energy policy speech in Howell, Michigan. The former president is still doing rallies, but three sources familiar with the discussions since Lewandowski took over said his primary focus is getting Trump and surrogates on the road more often, part of his West Wing-esque “let Trump be Trump” ethos— a slogan Lewandowski not only chose for the title of his 2017 book, but one he also kept on a whiteboard in his office during the 2016 campaign.
To get a sense of Lewandowski’s approach to clawing back some momentum from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, look no further than Trump rambling in front of a bunch of cops in a potential violation of campaign finance law.
“He’s pushing for those events,” a second source familiar with the discussions said, referring to Trump’s rambling press conferences. “He’s pushing for surrogates, and the understanding is he reports directly to President Trump.”
They did the same kind of stunt at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday when Trump broke military rules by using the cemetery and a grave site as a campaign event that included a typical Trump/Lewandowski-style bully-boy physical altercation.
So do you think Corey was the one who bullied and pushed the woman at the Arlington cemetery who was trying to stop this stunt? I would not be surprised.
It ain't ILlegal if nobody bothers to enforce the law. And nobody bothers to enforce the law.