Insiders for the Trump 2016 campaign say there really is no formal campaign, just a collection of supporters and yes men who are unable to control or guide the candidate in any meaningful way.
Sources close to the campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity told NBC News that Trump says and does things that he has not bothered to run by anyone. One commented:
“Bottom line, you can hire all the top people in the world, but to what end? Trump does what he wants.”
Campaign operatives say they have been shocked by the campaign’s failure to fill key roles. At the moment, there is no communications team to handle the hundreds of media outlets covering the race, no rapid response director to quickly counter attacks and launch new ones, and only a very limited cast of surrogates who have not been given a cohesive message.
Another source told NBC News:
“They don’t or can’t cover it all, and there are things that happen that need to be addressed immediately and don’t get addressed at all, and that hurts the candidate.”
The perfect example is last week’s major attack on Trump by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who declared Trump “temperamentally unfit” to be President of the United States. Also, Trump’s repeated attacks on the presiding judge in the Trump University suit also have staffers afraid that Trump may be about to destroy his entire operation. One noted:
“These are things that will defeat [us].”
Another factor causing friction inside the campaign is the ongoing power struggle between Trump’s top adviser Paul Manafort and longtime staff such as campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Manafort handles nearly every aspect of the campaign outside of travel and communications, sources say, while Lewandowski joins Trump on the road and has his ear almost constantly.
Trump doesn’t seem the least bit worried, despite the fears being raised by numerous advisors who say the wheels could come of the entire operation at any moment. Earlier today, Trump tweeted out this:
I am getting bad marks from certain pundits because I have a small campaign staff. But small is good, flexible, save money and number one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2016
So small is good, is it? Guess he applies that logic to his brain and his hands, also.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.