Kristol: 'The problem is Donald Trump'

Donald Trump's campaign reset will not amount to much, longtime critic Bill Kristol predicted Wednesday.

The Republican nominee announced early Wednesday morning that he is bringing on Breitbart executive Stephen K. Bannon as campaign CEO and promoting chief pollster Kellyanne Conway to the role of campaign manager. While campaign chairman Paul Manafort will retain his title, the moves signify a shakeup amid Trump's tanking poll numbers and a series of stories reporting on Manafort's cozy ties with pro-Russian politicians and oligarchs in Ukraine.


"I don’t think it matters because the problem is Donald Trump. You know, his unfavorable rating has been consistently too high to win a presidential election. Hillary Clinton’s, you would normally say is too high, but it’s about 10 points lower than Trump’s. And that’s what it’s about," the Weekly Standard editor said during a discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Even so, Kristol said "yes" when asked whether he still believed Trump could defeat Hillary Clinton in the general election.

"Yeah. I think it's an unusual and fluid year and more stuff could come out about Hillary Clinton," Kristol said, pointing to 2016 as a "change election."

In a more normal cycle where the prospective election of a candidate like Clinton would mean the third consecutive term for a political party, combined with her low approval numbers, Republicans should be "up a couple points," Kristol said.

"And he's losing by 10," he added. "That's all about Trump."