Reportedly, Donald Trump is changing up his campaign strategy when it comes to making television appearances. He is now refusing to appear on many news outlets and being advised by campaign officials to limit his public exposure. As Fox News reports, Donald Trump’s advisers are actually screening his potential television appearances by neglecting to notify Trump of every interview request that comes in. The move comes after weeks of scandals in the Trump campaign, most stemming from Donald Trump’s unwillingness (or inability) to censor some of his more controversial thoughts.
Multiple sources inside and close to the Donald Trump campaign report that there are now multiple “factions” within the campaign, and some of Trump’s top advisers think that too many interviews and too much public speaking could be harmful to Trump’s chances of securing his inexplicably successful White House bid.
The same sources say that recent controversies and infighting among campaign advisers have Donald Trump himself openly questioning who is running his campaign. He sometimes feels as though his edicts are being ignored, and the problem has reportedly become a source of contention and even anger.
According to some sources, it’s not just the Trump campaign cutting ties. Some organizations, it seems, are cutting ties with Trump first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSWyIo1E0j4
The changes to Donald Trump’s television appearance schedule are already very publicly apparent. Trump is not showing up on several network news stations, including MSNBC and CNN. He’s no longer popping up on the Sunday news talk shows, and since June 1, when many of his campaign controversies began to hit him in the polls, he has solely reserved his television news interviews for Fox News.
Some involved with and close to the Trump campaign believe that the former reality TV star is struggling with a “power shift” among the higher-ranking members of his campaign team. Those people include his kids and son-in-law, who are reportedly playing a more active role in the campaign. According to many reports, some aides now have a habit of acting inconsistently with Trump’s wishes.
“Donald Trump, in a sharp shift in strategy, is now refusing to appear on many television outlets, and top… https://t.co/AUilGXrKeT
— Todd Kennedy (@pragpro) July 8, 2016
Recently, Donald Trump has jumped (back) on the anti-media bandwagon. He’s taken to calling CNN the “Clinton News Network.” Previously, he had managed and vetted every individual TV interview request that came into his campaign. Now, multiple sources say that members of the Trump campaign staff are screening requests without asking his opinion, and even frequently not mentioning requests to their candidate at all.
There are questions as to whether the current behavior is an effort to be more efficient and professional, or to stop Trump from continuing to put his hypothetical foot in his mouth. Many recent polls have him lagging well behind Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, and the general consensus is that the reason for his declining poll numbers is his controversial, non-politically correct manner of speaking.
RETREAT!
— Irene (@iggy12_20) July 8, 2016
Candidate has to “handled” by family and staff? Sad!
— MadGranny (@SarahsMimi) July 8, 2016
According to some reports, in a meeting several weeks ago, some of Donald Trump’s senior campaign staff determined that Trump shouldn’t be “allowed” to give more than three interviews every week, and that number was to include printed interviews. Their efforts to curtail Trump’s habit of frequent interactions with the media were ineffective, though, and Donald Trump reportedly hit the three interview quota in the first day. However, some of the same high-level Donald Trump aides did reportedly win at least one concession: they are filtering the reporters allowed to ride with Trump on his private plane.
While Donald Trump has reportedly cut back on his TV appearances, it appears that no one has been able to keep him off social media. His legendary Twitter commentary continues to plague his campaign with discord. Most recently, he endured allegations of antisemitism after posting a graphic featuring rival Hillary Clinton, a six-pointed star and background of cash. Critics said Donald Trump was referencing a Star of David. Trump and his campaign argued that it was a sheriff’s star. Regardless of the excuses or intentions behind the initial tweet, Donald Trump deleted it and replaced it with an edited image in which the star was replaced with a circle.
Star of David to suggest Hillary Clinton is corrupt? Horrible antisemitism from Donald Trump https://t.co/O8bFy3eJb1 pic.twitter.com/2QNcqyMDHv
— Joseph Willits (@josephwillits) July 2, 2016
It seems that no matter what team Donald Trump does to try to muzzle their candidate, he finds a way to make his feelings known. He does it so well, and so offensively, in fact, that multiple big-name corporate donors have pulled out of sponsoring the upcoming Republican National Convention. What do you think? Are Donald Trump’s embattled advisers making the right call by trying to limit his TV appearances?
[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
