Former investment banker to lead team in demotion for current chairman Paul Manafort, as pollster Kellyanne Conway becomes campaign manager

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump shook free the last vestiges of political supervision on Wednesday with the appointment of a maverick new campaign chief likely to favour his freewheeling style.

Steve Bannon, a Breitbart News executive once described by Bloomberg as the “most dangerous political operative in America”, will wrestle day-to-day control of the campaign from current chairman Paul Manafort.

“I am committed to doing whatever it takes to win this election,” said Trump in a statement confirming the reshuffle. As campaign chief executive, Bannon will “oversee the campaign staff and operations in addition to strategic oversight of major campaign initiatives”, the statement added.



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Despite a tumultuous month in which he hinted at the assassination of Hillary Clinton and attacked the family of a Muslim war hero, Trump is thought to blame his sliding poll numbers on attempts by Manafort and others to rein in his unpredictable campaign style with a more professional approach.



But Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs banker who made part of his fortune through a stake in Seinfeld, has been a key figure in the anti-establishment revolt that has swept through the Republican party. He is likely to favour the “Let Trump be Trump” approach of Manafort’s pugnacious predecessor, Corey Lewandowski, and encourage a new “gloves off” approach to attacking his opponent.



The news, which was confirmed on the same day Trump received his first government national security briefing, following his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination, was angrily received by the Clinton camp.

“After several failed attempts to pivot into a more serious and presidential mode, Donald Trump has decided to double down on his most small, nasty and divisive instincts by turning his campaign over to someone who is best known for running a so-called news site [that traffics in] racist, anti-Muslim, antisemitic conspiracy theories,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

“No matter how much the establishment wants to clean Donald Trump up, get him on a teleprompter, he has officially won the fight to let Trump be Trump. He keeps telling us who he is, it’s time to believe him.”

Mook said a prospective new onslaught of hardball, Breitbart-style attacks by the Trump campaign on Clinton would not rattle the Democratic nominee.

“People like Bannon and Breitbart have been going after Hillary Clinton every single day and she’s still standing strong … the voters have always rejected it.”

Among other changes, Trump pollster Kellyanne Conway has also been promoted to campaign manager.

At Trump tower on Wednesday, Conway put a smile on what she refused to acknowledge as a “shakeup” and told the Guardian whether things turned nasty was “up to the Clinton campaign”.

“This is an expansion at an incredibly busy time, the last 12-week homestretch for the campaign,” said the new campaign manager. “We look at personnel more and more. With Paul continuing as our chairman and Rick Gates as his deputy, Stephen Bannon and I have been added to what I would call the ‘core four’ of that senior team and we’re going to divide responsibilities according to our best an highest uses,” she said.

Conway also rejected the suggestion that it was too late to correct the campaign’s flagging momentum.

“Two or three things we’ve all learned about Donald Trump is, No 1: don’t underestimate him. No 2: you know he exceeds expectations. And No 3: he also exceeds the metrics that are usually at play, meaning he over-performed many of his polling averages in the primaries and the caucuses,” she said.

Manafort retains his title of campaign chairman but the shakeup represents a demotion for the lobbyist and political consultant, who only formally took over the reins in June following the departure of Lewandowski.

Trump said that he had appointed Bannon and Conway because they were “big people” who would help him defeat Clinton.

“I’ve known both of them for a long time. They’re terrific people, they’re winners, they’re champs, and we need to win it,” Trump told the Associated Press.

Manafort’s apparent sidelining follows reports about his links with Ukraine and his business ties with post-Soviet oligarchs. Before working for Trump, he spent a decade in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, advising Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s former president, who fled to Russia in 2014.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul Manafort. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Trump’s changes to his team, made just 82 days before the November election, give little indication that he is seeking to broaden his appeal and steer clear of controversy.



In March, Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro launched a scathing attack on Bannon as Shapiro and reporter Michelle Fields resigned from the outlet following an alleged assault on the latter by Lewandowski.

Trump’s then campaign manager allegedly grabbed Fields by the arm and pulled her away from Trump when she tried to ask him a question at a press conference, leaving her with bruises.

Trump accused her of making up the allegations and Breitbart published a long post in which it said “it is unclear that contact has been made” on Fields in video clips of the incident.

As a result, Shapiro accused Bannon of having betrayed the legacy of the late Breitbart founder, Andrew Breitbart. “In my opinion, Steve Bannon … has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda,” he said.

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Breitbart News was an early embracer of partisan online journalism and its devoted followers laud it for exposing what they see as leftwing media bias. But to others it is representative of mean-spirited journalism that revels in personal attacks.

Additional senior hires are expected in the next few days and there have been multiple reports – denied by Trump – that the disgraced Fox News creator Roger Ailes has been brought in to help him face Clinton on the debate stage next month.

Ailes resigned last month from the network he cofounded and ran for 20 years, following allegations that he had sexually harassed numerous subordinates, including former host Gretchen Carlson and star anchor Megyn Kelly.

Polls have shown Clinton building a lead following the Philadelphia convention, both nationally and in a host of key battleground states.

Trump’s campaign announced on Tuesday that it would finally begin airing its first advertisements of the general election next week in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.