Trump Makes Big Campaign Shakeup

Brad Parscale is no longer manager, replaced by Bill Stepian
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 16, 2020 12:06 AM CDT
Updated Jul 16, 2020 6:46 AM CDT
Trump Demotes Brad Parscale
Brad Parscale speaks before a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, March 28, 2019.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Brad Parscale has been described as "the genius who won Trump's campaign." But, though he's been on board since that 2016 campaign, Parscale is no longer Trump's 2020 campaign manager. In a major shakeup announced Wednesday night, Bill Stepien was named as Parscale's replacement, the Hill reports. Parscale will still be a senior adviser, and will head up the campaign's digital strategy, which is what he did in 2016. (Back then, Trump similarly replaced campaign manager Corey Lewandowski with Paul Manafort in June of the election year, then replaced him with Kellyanne Conway in August.) Stepien was the White House political director for Trump's first two years as president, and before being promoted to campaign manager, he was deputy campaign manager. Other recent changes in campaign staffing include Hogan Gidley moving from the White House to the campaign, and 2016 campaign aides Jason Miller and Susie Wiles being brought back on.

"Both were heavily involved in our historic 2016 win, and I look forward to having a big and very important second win together," Trump tweeted of Parscale and Stepien. "This one should be a lot easier as our poll numbers are rising fast, the economy is getting better, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities!" But Trump is trailing Joe Biden in multiple polls, USA Today reports, noting that the campaign has been seeking a "reset" as the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide unrest over racial injustice have rattled it. Sources told the Hill that a shakeup has been expected since the Trump's Oklahoma rally, which was not as well attended as anticipated and was then blamed for contributing to a spike in COVID cases in the area; some blamed Parscale for what the Hill calls a "disastrous" rally and wondered if he'd be better-suited to focusing on digital. (More President Trump 2020 stories.)

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