# Donald Trump's 2016 General Election Campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901 "2016-05-04T02:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 80
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1581 "2016-06-20T15:01:48Z")
Could someone clarify the differences between Manafort and Lewandowski? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1582 "2016-06-20T15:07:02Z")
Paul Manafort is a quite bit older than Corey Lewandowski. Manafort also has a thicker head of hair, which I suspect he dyes. Lewandowski is leaner than Manafort. Those are some differences off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1583 "2016-06-20T15:09:11Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Could someone clarify the differences between Manafort and Lewandowski? That’s kind of a silly question. For one thing, Manafort has been working campaigns since Lewadowski has been in diapers including 6 presidential campaigns. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1584 "2016-06-20T15:30:01Z")
Seriously, is Trump trying to lose? He has [30 paid staff on the ground](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e0b835d1255450484415b0d20df2996/trump-battleground-plan-relies-skeptical-gop-leaders). 30. He’s relying on the party…the party who hates him…to carry the water in battleground states. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1585 "2016-06-20T15:33:47Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > That’s not as big a deal as it sounds. Lewandowski has been the campaign manager in name only since Manafort was brought in back in March. Lewandowski has still managed to get people fired, such as political director Rick Wiley. If Manafort is actually in control now, and more than just a figurehead for Trump, that signifies a significant change. Whether it’s too little, too late is up for debate. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1586 "2016-06-20T15:39:26Z")
[More from NPR.](http://www.npr.org/2016/06/20/482779372/embattled-trump-campaign-manager-out?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160620) [QUOTE=NPR] Lewandowski has been with Trump since he began his presidential run, managing his shoestring operation. But as Trump has moved into the general election, a more traditional campaign structure largely managed by Paul Manafort, a former Ronald Reagan aide, has emerged. Within the campaign, Manafort and Lewandowski have been seen as competing forces. A campaign source told NPR that Trump previously had liked the competitiveness between the two. (snip) Manafort was brought on earlier this year to help professionalize the skeletal, disorganized Trump operation. But there was reportedly tension between the two, with Lewandowski wanting to keep the same approach that had worked before, while Manafort worked to make Trump pivot to a more disciplined general-election approach. [/QUOTE] I can only view this as bad news (for anyone but Trump supporters). Lewandowski appeared to be a proponent of “Let Trump be Trump,” which worked in the primary but of course has resulted in an endless stream of bullshit that the wider electorate doesn’t (seem to) like. I’d prefer them to keep doing what they’re doing than actually try to change course to a more professional operation. Let’s hope that the newly-empowered Manafort is unable to contain Cheeto Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1587 "2016-06-20T15:40:26Z")
So what happens if the NeverTrump folks find a way to keep him off the ballot? I’m not talking about a potential Trumper Tantrum attempt at spoiling (I read an article positing that Trump may very well be willing to turn down the nomination so long as he is officially offered it), but about the GOP’s campaign efforts following all this. Is it too late to get a proper machine rolling? Will they nominate a placeholder, cede the election to Hillary altogether, and focus entirely on the down ticket votes? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1588 "2016-06-20T15:41:17Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > He has [30 paid staff on the ground](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e0b835d1255450484415b0d20df2996/trump-battleground-plan-relies-skeptical-gop-leaders). 30. He’s relying on the party…the party who hates him…to carry the water in battleground states. Meanwhile, party officials in such battleground states as [Arizona](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/donald-trump-arizona-connecticut-crazy) and [Utah](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/panic-utah-gop-trump) are struggling to beat Clinton’s lead there. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1589 "2016-06-20T15:48:00Z")
I’ll reserve judgment on this whole Lewendowski thing until adaher gets here to explain why it spells doom for Hillary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1590 "2016-06-20T15:49:58Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > [More from NPR.](http://www.npr.org/2016/06/20/482779372/embattled-trump-campaign-manager-out?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160620) > > I can only view this as bad news (for anyone but Trump supporters). Lewandowski appeared to be a proponent of “Let Trump be Trump,” which worked in the primary but of course has resulted in an endless stream of bullshit that the wider electorate doesn’t (seem to) like. I’d prefer them to keep doing what they’re doing than actually try to change course to a more professional operation. Let’s hope that the newly-empowered Manafort is unable to contain Cheeto Jesus. Judging by his Twitter account, _somebody_ has been keeping a tight rein on Trump over the past few days. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1591 "2016-06-20T15:54:27Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ll reserve judgment on this whole Lewendowski thing until adaher gets here to explain why it spells doom for Hillary Clinton. Well, its Monday, is that one of his “centrist” days? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1592 "2016-06-20T16:07:00Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Seriously, is Trump trying to lose? > > He has [30 paid staff on the ground](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e0b835d1255450484415b0d20df2996/trump-battleground-plan-relies-skeptical-gop-leaders). 30. He’s relying on the party…the party who hates him…to carry the water in battleground states. The most likely explanation remains that Trump is incompetent and trying to run a campaign on the cheap. I know it makes people feel smart to think they’ve seen through someone of great depth, but all the evidence points to Trump being a lot like Carson, only with people skills and salesmanship (not the same as actual business acumen) instead of neurosurgery as the one and only thing he’s good at. That stuff sends you sailing through the process of financing the casino but doesn’t make you capable of running it; it allows you to dominate a weak and divided primary field but makes you falter once you have to get nontrivial numbers of votes from the population as a whole. Trump isn’t even good at getting people _as a whole_ on his side. He’s too far to the “brash asshole” side of the spectrum of male behavior, to the point he’s actively off-putting to a large fraction of the country, male and female. And, of course, he’s said some really, amazingly, incredibly stupid shit, some of it _before_ he decided to run for the presidency of a country which contains Mexicans, Muslims, and people who _aren’t_ the primate equivalent of festering open sores. He is, however, astonishingly successful among a certain kind of person. The fact that person represents a good third or so of the modern Republican primary electorate is just his good fortune. The further fact that the GOP couldn’t convince the primary field to winnow sufficiently to stop him is the second part of the cascading failure that party is now marked by. It’s like watching a train wreck, in that it can’t be blamed on any one thing: The locomotive was going the wrong way to begin with, _and_ the dumb SOBs cheaped out on the brakes. In this, as in so much of his life, Trump was born on third and thinks he scored a touchdown from the three-point line. He’s the beneficiary of a political party’s cascading failure which has been in progress for four-plus decades now. Comes the hour, comes the man, and he’s in-your-face enough to stain the fabric of the party for a long time to come, but that doesn’t mean he planned any more than a tiny piece of his ultimate role. Trump is, first and foremost, an opportunist. He saw an opening and filled a hole, and now he’s not going away until his force is spent. However, he lacks the fundamentals required to go all the way, so he’s bound to blow up and make a messy exit somewhere short of the finish line. Actually doing something as technical and as detail-oriented as running a good general election campaign against a real opponent is simply too far out of his comfort zone. He only got this far due to decades’ worth of the incompetence of others. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1593 "2016-06-20T16:58:10Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Trump is, first and foremost, an opportunist. He saw an opening and filled a hole, and now he’s not going away until his force is spent. However, he lacks the fundamentals required to go all the way, so he’s bound to blow up and make a messy exit somewhere short of the finish line. Dude, please, this is a family show! _puke smiley_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1594 "2016-06-20T17:29:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I’m not talking about a potential Trumper Tantrum attempt at spoiling (I read an article positing that Trump may very well be willing to turn down the nomination so long as he is officially offered it)… There’s no way he’d do that, unless he plans on retiring from business too. He’d destroy his brand with the only people who care about it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1595 "2016-06-20T17:33:01Z")
Don’t ask me for cites, but in reading their Twitter feeds, the general tenor among Repubs is that they still think that this race can still be salvaged into something recognizable… maybe not into a winning race, but into one that doesn’t taint the brand both inside and outside the party. And I just dont see how that’s possible as there are no good options in this for them. But… there is a _worst_ option. The worst option for the Republicans is, in my humble opinion, if their schoolyard bully of a candidate actually wins this thing. He will literally be uncontrollable, bound to the RNC by nothing, and they will have no option but to join the opposition to stop him, sounding the death knell of the Republican party. He will use the powers of the Presidency to go after the federal judiciary as much as he will use the powers of the judiciary to go after Hillary Clinton, that disabled reporter, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, and anybody over the past 70 years who have wronged him, which will include every Republican who did not kiss his ass this year, which is a fuck-lot of them. If they go into September with him as their candidate, it really may be the end of the Republican party. All this imho of course. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1596 "2016-06-20T17:36:01Z")
Remember the old saying of “follow the money”? In this campaign we have to ask Trump “Where is the money?” Here is Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo: [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-real-news-is-trump-is-broke](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-real-news-is-trump-is-broke) > [@](#): > > My real interest is in a different question: where’s the money? > > I got onto thinking about this when I saw John McQuaid’s short piece in Forbes. As McQuaid notes, this is the gaping hole, the burning question at the center of Trump’s campaign. Reports suggest that Trump has been unwilling to undergo the ego effacement of calling high dollar Republican donors and asking for money. His campaign has virtually no money in the bank ($2.4m at last count). > > Even if Trump can’t not be Trump, the damage of being Trump could at least be off-set by pouring money into advertising in key swing states and field work. But at this moment, the Clinton campaign (and pro-Clinton superPACs) is rolling out a barrage of targeted swing state advertising focused on solidifying and embedding the highly negative image Trump has built for himself over the last year and especially the last eight weeks. That advertising is going entirely unanswered by the Trump campaign. Trump’s been reduced to making emergency appeals to raise $100,000. And running ads like this which a reporter covering the campaign got in her Instagram feed. > > As the Instagram campaign suggests, the Trump fundraising apparatus appears to be working at the Ginsu knives level of marketing. 😃 > [@](#): > > The only credible answer is that it is difficult or perhaps even impossible for him to produce these comparatively small sums. If that’s true, his claim to be worth billions of dollars must either be a pure sham and a fraud or some artful concoction of extreme leverage and accounting gimmickry, which makes it impossible to come up with actual cash. It’s true that he’s already loaned his campaign over $40 million, which at least suggests a substantial amount of liquid assets to draw on. But we’ve never really known where that money came from or whether it needs to be repaid to some other party. Indeed, Trump’s unwillingness to give up his right to be repaid, essentially reimbursed for the primary campaign, by GOP high rollers has always been a telling but largely ignored detail. > > It’s been a subject of endless fascination for many to try to make sense of Trump’s business empire and a producer of schadenfreude on an epic scale for those poking holes in his account of his billions. Perhaps later this week he’ll prove me totally wrong and announce he’s loaning himself another $100 million or $200 million. But I doubt it. If he could, why would he have allowed himself to get into this money crunch? This is now perhaps the critical question in the campaign: what happens if Donald Trump is effectively broke and can’t produce critical funds for his campaign at make or break moments let alone self-fund the whole endeavor? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1597 "2016-06-20T17:44:56Z")
I forgot to add: IMHO this fits with what some reported was the original plan of Trump, to finish the primaries just with very strong numbers, to be in the race as a protest candidate and to enrich himself later with the fame and list of supporters. I think that now it is “oh S\*\*\*! I have to spent close to a billion to continue?” time, and that was not really part of his plan. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1598 "2016-06-20T17:48:28Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > …Trump is, first and foremost, an opportunist. He saw an opening and filled a hole… He didn’t just _fill_ a hole. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1599 "2016-06-20T17:57:37Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > [More from NPR.](http://www.npr.org/2016/06/20/482779372/embattled-trump-campaign-manager-out?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160620) > > I can only view this as bad news (for anyone but Trump supporters). Lewandowski appeared to be a proponent of “Let Trump be Trump,” which worked in the primary but of course has resulted in an endless stream of bullshit that the wider electorate doesn’t (seem to) like. I’d prefer them to keep doing what they’re doing than actually try to change course to a more professional operation. Let’s hope that the newly-empowered Manafort is unable to contain Cheeto Jesus. I’d guess Manafort can only minimally contain Trump. Trump thinks he’s smarter than everyone, so even if someone gives him good advice it would be surprising if he followed it. Almost every time he’s given a speech from a Teleprompter he can’t help but going off script. The campaign will probably be better with Manafort in and Lewandowski out, but I don’t think it’s going to be what puts him on top. > [@JohnT](#): > > Judging by his Twitter account, _somebody_ has been keeping a tight rein on Trump over the past few days. Yeah, he hasn’t said anything too outrageous the last few days, he’s been mainly tweeting about the recent rallies he did. But those rallies were in Texas, where he doesn’t exactly need to shore up his support. [This article in the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/19/the-brutal-numbers-behind-a-very-bad-month-for-donald-trump/) made me feel better about the whole Trump campaign, I knew it was going badly but I didn’t realize how bad. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1600 "2016-06-20T17:59:03Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ll reserve judgment on this whole Lewendowski thing until adaher gets here to explain why it spells doom for Hillary Clinton. That’s enough of that, right there. No shots at other posters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=79) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=81)