Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

2016 Election

The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowksi

Screen Shot 2016 06 28 at 3.09.31 PM
Screen Shot 2016 06 28 at 3.09.31 PM

Not long after guiding an unorthodox, abrasive campaign to a sweeping primary victory, Corey Lewandowski was fired from his position as Donald Trump’s campaign manager.

The looming general election necessitated a toned-down approach for Trump, who will be expected to match his opponent’s political poise.  A contentious figure by any measure, Lewandowski often created just as many headlines as his boss and, having been picked up by CNN, may very well create even more in the future.

The unorthodox beginnings

Though Lewandowski had experience organizing smaller campaigns for senators and congressmen in the past, his involvement in Trump’s nontraditional campaign was a bit more nebulous. When it came to handling the logistics of it, Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told The New York Times that Paul Manafort, Trump’s chief strategist, held the reigns.

[slideshow_lib slideshow_id=”19359″ _index=”0″]

Lewandowski’s role, on the other hand, more closely resembled that of a right-hand aide. His motto throughout the early stages, when Trump was causing media uproars daily, was “Let Trump be Trump.” Considering the former businessman’s candidacy was initially laughable, the strategy wasn’t entirely a flop. If the candidate hadn’t been outspoken and offensive, he wouldn’t have garnered nearly $2 billion in free media coverage. Those numbers have likely risen since they were calculated in March 2016.

The beginning(s) of the end?

In March, Lewandowski was charged with battery for allegedly assaulting former Breitbart journalist Michelle Fields in Jupiter, Florida. Reactions to the incident were scathing.

“It’s a very sad development and this is the consequence of the culture of the Trump campaign,” Sen Ted Cruz said in Wisconsin shortly after the accusations surfaced. “The abusive culture when you have a campaign that is built on personal insults, on attacks and now physical violence, that has no place in a political campaign, it has no place in our democracy.”

Still, Trump stood by his manager through thick and thin. And the charges, as the candidate predicted, were ultimately dropped. Nonetheless, the incident would have spelled the end for both Trump and his manager in nearly any other campaign that shied from controversy.

 

As early as April, however, Politico reported on there being a tug of war between Manafort and Lewandowski.  Their campaign strategies were polar opposites. Whereas Lewandowski stood by “Let Trump be Trump,” Manafort promised Republican leaders Trump would soften his rhetoric. At first, Trump took offense to the latter route and chose the former, but advisers and Party donors weren’t on board with the decision. One of those people, CNN reported, was Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. 

[postquote]

Lewandowski’s boldness scored him too many enemies at that point in the game, rendering him a liability as the political stakes grew. He was no longer invincible in Trump’s political sphere.

Tension among family members

It seems like Trump fired Lewandowski out of the blue, but the move came as no surprise to insiders. Sources told CNN that Ivanka, Trump’s daughter, and her husband Jared Kushner convinced the patriarch to kick Lewandowski aside and hire someone who would create greater stability in the campaign.

CNN’s MJ Lee reported it had taken the pair months to successfully persuade him until Lewandowski was accused of trying to plant stories in the press to “take Jared down.”

The manager denied the claims in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash and has only said good things about the Trump campaign since. He expressed his best wishes to both the candidate and his family.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” he said, brushing off Bash’s inquiry into why he believes he was fired. “But what I know is what we’ve been able to achieve in this election cycle has been historic.”

It looks as though the nation has finally discovered where Trump draws the line: Don’t mess with the family.

What’s next?

Lewandowski’s shot at heading a fully-fledged presidential campaign may have vanished, but he didn’t lose out entirely. The former Trump campaign manager was swept up by CNN and hired as a political correspondent on June 23. Though he signed a nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s campaign, the nation will surely get to know just a bit better the man mysteriously fired from arguably the most controversial campaign in history.

Manafort, Trump’s former chief strategist who butted heads with Lewandowski, has since become Trump’s convention manager, signaling the candidate’s new reliance upon Republican “pros.” In an interview with The New York Times, Manafort explained how Trump’s strategy needed to evolve away from media attention, something that Lewandowski prioritized.

“He had a different campaign model and his campaign model was precipitated on the concept of mass communication, establishing who he was, and working what I consider to be a very historic approach to communication with the public, so winning was what mattered,” Manafort said in the phone interview.

Now, he told the publication, more weight is being put on how Trump wins. This time, his new and expanded staff are going to try and make sure he plays by the establishment rules.

Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.

Header image: Getty

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

economy

In the early 2000s, I remember watching a game show, and the grand prize was a million dollars. I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s...

economy

When starting college and choosing a major, it’s important to know which college degrees will make you the most money. Since last year’s quarantine,...

2016 president election

In a political climate dominated by a two-party system, Libertarians are constantly confused as off-brand Republicans. Although the two groups sometimes align on issues,...

Business

What is the gap between culture and technology? According to Damas, entertainers have passions that brands and companies may not be aware of, and...

Copyright © 2020-2021 GenBiz. GenBiz is owned and operated by owned by the Foundation for American Content and Entertainment, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.