Brad’s Trump’s bro no more
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Donald Trump fired his campaign manager late Wednesday, just four months ahead of November’s election, in a bid to transform a campaign that has seen his popularity sinking over his management of the surging coronavirus.
With two more polls Wednesday adding to several recently that have shown the US president’s support tanking, he took to Twitter to announce that Brad Parscale would be replaced by Bill Stepien, his former deputy campaign manager.
Praising both for their efforts, he struck a hopeful note as he looked ahead to November, saying the election “should be a lot easier” than 2016 “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 the reality is stubborn and sobering: more than 137,000 Americans have been killed by COVID-19, confirmed new cases are on the rise in 40 out of 50 states, California announced it was reshuttering parts of its massive economy, and Trump is clashing with health experts tasked with fighting the crisis.
With two more polls Wednesday adding to several recently that have shown the US president’s support tanking, he took to Twitter to announce that Brad Parscale would be replaced by Bill Stepien, his former deputy campaign manager.
With infection rates that have taken radically different trajectories than those in Europe, the United States is in bad shape — and the president appears to be dodging the subject.
On Wednesday he traveled to Atlanta — not to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an update on the pandemic response as cases spike in the south and west, but to deliver a speech on modernizing America’s infrastructure.
One day earlier he held a long press conference at the White House in which he touched on multiple subjects and vilified his Democratic rival Joe Biden — but barely mentioned the outbreak.
His attempt to discredit respected infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci, who has bluntly warned that the US strategy against the virus is faltering, has flopped.
Even some voices within his own camp are urging the president to tackle the problem more seriously rather than blame scapegoats.