Trump’s Desperate New Hire Confirms His Campaign Is Struggling

Donald Trump’s latest hire is proof that the former president is hoping to get the band that first got him to the White House back together.

The Trump campaign has hired Corey Lewandowski, who served as Trump’s campaign manager ahead of the 2016 presidential election, to advise its senior leadership team. Lewandowski will reportedly serve above Trump’s co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, amid swirling rumors that the two have become the most vulnerable members of Trump’s team.

Lewandowski was viewed as a fierce defender of Trump’s unorthodox approach to campaigning, according to The New York Times . When Trump was urged to soften his message to appeal to moderates, Lewandowski adopted the motto “Let Trump Be Trump.”

This nonstrategy stands in stark contrast to the current state of the race, in which Trump’s allies have begun urging him to stop making personal attacks against his opponent and stay on message. As such, Lewandowski’s hiring could signal Trump pushing back on his team’s attempts to get him to focus on policy rather than his typical grandstanding.

Lewandowski’s reputation precedes him. In March 2016, Lewandowski was arrested for intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of a female reporter. He was charged with misdemeanor battery.

The charges were ultimately dropped because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. Trump defended him, telling reporters at the time, “I think it’s a very, very sad day in this country when a man could be destroyed over something like that.”

Trump, whose catchphrase is literally “You’re fired,” claimed that he couldn’t just “discard people.” Lewandowski was fired from the campaign three months later.

While the split was “amicable,” Lewandowski had been subject to several unfavorable headlines and reportedly had a contentious relationship with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman. Trump later expressed regret about firing his campaign manager.

After the election, Lewandowski went on to lead the pro-Trump Make America Great Again super PAC, but he was ousted from that organization in 2021 after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward a Trump donor. Lewandowski has remained an informal Trump adviser.

Lewandowski also co-wrote a book about working on Trump’s campaign, predictably titled Let Trump Be Trump. The New Republic ’s Alex Shephard described the book as “repetitive, sycophantic, and self-serving.” It simultaneously painted Lewandowski as the true architect of the Trump campaign’s success in 2016 while remaining effusively complimentary of the wrathful, tantrum-having candidate at its center.

LaCivita and Wiles also announced that Alex Pfeiffer and Alex Bruesewitz, top officials at the MAGA Inc. super PAC, would be joining the Trump team. Earlier this week, the Trump campaign announced that it had hired that super PAC’s leader, Taylor Budowich, who is also a former Trump aide.

The campaign has also brought aboard Tim Murtaugh, who was the communications director on Trump’s failed 2020 reelection campaign.