Trump Sets Sights On 2020... Taps Former Aide To Lead The Way
President Donald Trump has tapped Brad Parscale — his 2016 campaign head of digital media — to be campaign manager for his 2020 re-election bid.
Like the candidate himself, Parscale’s help orchestrating the upset win over Hillary Clinton was his first foray into politics, having served as a website developer and digital marketer for The Trump Organization for some years prior to the 2016 race.
“He has our family’s complete trust and is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign,” Trump’s son Eric Trump said regarding the naming of Parscale as 2020 campaign manager.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who worked closely with Parscale in 2016 also praised the choice.
He said Parscale “was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run,” CBS News reported.
In an unprecedented move, Trump filed papers for the 2020 race the day of his inauguration in Jan. 2017.
The former businessman and reality television star also got a jump on his 2016 bid by trademarking his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” days after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney lost to then-President Barack Obama in Nov. 2012.
Bringing Parscale on board the campaign now will allow him to not only be working toward Trump’s 2020 re-election, but also overseeing the president’s efforts to support candidates in the 2018 midterms.
The Texas Tribune reported that the campaign plans on “providing candidates with general support, endorsements, and rallying the support of the political grassroots by engaging Trump supporters in districts and states.”
According to Parscale’s own account during a “60 Minutes” interview last fall, Trump was dubious of the tens of millions the campaign was spending on digital outreach in 2016.
“I don’t believe in this mumbo-jumbo digital stuff,” the online guru recalled Trump screaming at him at one point during the race.
“I was crushed actually. It was the first time he had ever, just — I hadn’t even seen him yell at anyone, let alone me,” Parscale said.
However, Trump came around and became a true believer following his win.
Parscale told Fox News a week after the victory, he had predicted Trump’s 305 electoral vote tally the Friday before the election.
“The data operation ran everything from TV buying to where we were on the ground to all the different operations,” Parscale said. “The data does not lie.”
According to Rasmussen Reports, Trump moved back this week into positive territory in his job approval ratings for the first time since the beginning of his term, with 50 approving to 48 percent disapproving.
Trump revved up the CPAC crowd last week when he said regarding his presidency, “We’ve got seven years to go, folks. You know, we got a long time to go.”
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