If anyone was in any doubt as to whether the current President of the United States would try his hand at getting re-elected, it is now known for definite: Donald Trump will be running for office in 2020. In addition to this, he has also announced the appointment of a new campaign manager.
This news comes 980 days before the election day, far earlier than any previous president. For instance, Barack Obama announced that he would run for a second term 582 days before polling began in 2012. News of this bid comes eight months before the congressional elections in November this year, which will determine whether the Republican Party will hold on to their control of congress.
Apparently, Trump filed the paperwork to organize his re-election committee the very same day that he took office, and it has long been on the cards. As far back as June 2017 White House officials have been claiming this to be true. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the time: "Of course, he's running for re-election."
The new campaign manager will be political strategist Brad Parscale, who was the digital director for his 2016 campaign. Parscale is a digital consultant and a close ally of Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and has continued to lead digital strategies for the campaign and the Republican National Committee since the election.
Parscale had never worked in politics before joining the campaign in 2015. He had known the family after working for the Trump Organization for years designing websites and developing digital strategy for his businesses. Things haven't always run so smoothly, however.
According to Parscale, Trump had become angry with where his money was going during the campaign, as he explained on CBS' 60 Minutes last year.
"I don't believe in this mumbo-jumbo digital stuff." Parscale recalled Trump screaming at him, adding: "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".
However, he clearly won him back over during the last week of the campaign with one particular strategy. During the last week of the campaign, he saw that Hillary Clinton was likely to win in areas such as Virginia so shifted their money to places where he was confident that he would win, such as Ohio.
"I took every nickel and dime I could out of anywhere else. And I moved it to Michigan and Wisconsin. And I started buying advertising, digital, TV," Parscale explained.
In light of this appointment, the new campaign manager has been complimented by other members of the Trump family. Eric Trump said he was "pivotal to our success in 2016" and claimed he "has our family's complete trust". Meanwhile, Kushner stated that "his leadership and expertise will help build a best-in-class campaign."
While many could have guessed that Trump would try again, this news shows that their push for eight years in office is a serious one. Yet with a current approval rating of only 38% in the country, it's unclear exactly how things are going to turn out in three years time.
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