As I’ve noted before, everyone scorned the idea of a Trump pivot but he did execute one with his last campaign shake-up. The Wall Street Journal writes about it today:
Donald Trump installed his third leadership team at a campaign low point on Aug. 16. The next day, his new managers at a meeting in his Trump Tower office in New York suggested the Republican Party nominee visit residents suffering in the Louisiana floods.
Mr. Trump didn’t like the idea. Wouldn’t he look like he was pandering? he asked, according to advisers. And besides, he added, Louisiana wasn’t a swing state.
Newly installed campaign chief executive Stephen Bannon and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told their new boss, basically, trust us. Mr. Trump needed to move away from a preoccupation with rallies and wall-to-wall TV interviews toward “moments,” in the new managers’ parlance, that showed him in TV newscasts as presidential, with a caring side.
What’s so amazing about this is 1) it is so obvious — a student in Larry Sabato’s Politics 101 course probably would have recommended the same course; 2) it was so easy to implement — just stop shouting at rallies; 3) and it has made such a big difference — as soon as Trump began following this advice, the polling gap began to close. Throw on top of it Hillary’s bad two weeks and we may see reputable polls showing the race tied again by the end of this week or the beginning of next.