Fortune: Why Donald Trump's New Braintrust May Explode [View all]
To reverse his fading fortunes, Donald Trump is placing two new power players in his campaigns top positions. His choices, however, are likely to result in what students get from mistakenly mixing an acid with a base in chemistry class: an explosion. Thats the view of political operatives interviewed by Fortune, none of whom wished to be quoted on the record.
On August 16, the campaign announced that Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News, will become its CEO, a newly-created position and will bolster the business-like approach of Mr. Trumps campaign, according a press release from the campaign.
Bannon will oversee campaign staff and operations, the release states. Kellyanne Conway, a veteran Republican strategist, is the new campaign manager. Paul Manafort, whose reputation has suffered following the discovery of secret ledgers from the deposed, pro-Kremlin Ukrainian regime listing him as the recipient of millions of dollars in cash, remains as chairman and chief strategist.
However, its clear that Manafort is being demoteddespite protests from the Trump campaign and Manafort himself, who said: It is imperative we continue to expand our team with top-tier talent. Steve and Kellyanne are respected professionals who believe in Mr. Trump and his message and will undoubtedly help take the campaign to new levels of success.
So whos setting the overarching strategy? According the release, Bannon wont just run administration, but will be responsible for strategic oversight of major campaign initiatives. Conway will work on messaging and travel frequently with Mr. Trump. In most campaigns, the campaign managerConways rolemakes the personnel decisions, chooses the ads, and hones the messaging. But Conway is apparently sharing all three areas of responsibility with Bannon. This arrangement is like putting two CEOs in charge of company, a solution that almost never works, even if its not a flailing company.
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read:http://fortune.com/2016/08/17/donald-trump-campaign-team/