Donald Trump fired controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Monday. Lewandowski’s departure is the most significant staff change in Trump’s presidential campaign and signals an acknowledgement from Trump that a major reorganization is required to bring his struggling campaign back to life.
Corey Lewandowski: “I don’t know” why I was fired but “I’m proud” of what we’ve accomplished https://t.co/Lk45RwpDlq https://t.co/hGwHWLFcaM
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski’s exit has come just a month before the Republican Party convention in Cleveland. Trump, the presumptive candidate, is supposed to secure an official nomination during the convention. The spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Hope Hicks, gave out an official statement on Monday regarding the issue.
“The Donald J Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign.”
“The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
And apparently, the news came off as just as much a surprise to Lewandowski as it has to the rest of America. He was reportedly fired during an early morning meeting with Doanld Trump and his two eldest sons, Eric & Donald Jr. Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, he was asked the one question everybody wanted answered — why was he fired? — to which he simply replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that.”
“I had a nice conversation with Mr. Trump and I said to him, ‘It’s been an honor and a privilege to be a part of this,’ and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”
Donald Trump also spoke on the matter during an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.
“He did a great job. But we’re gonna go little bit of a different route.”
Corey has been a controversial figure throughout the Trump campaign and reportedly had a poor relationship with Trump’s advisers and his family. With the general election closing in, Trump reportedly had heard a lot of concerns from his closest advisers, party officials, and family members over Lewandowski’s ability to run a campaign against Hillary Clinton. Trump has seen his ratings plummet ever since he became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Among those who had voiced concerns was Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who had told Trump during a meeting last week that the straining relations between his committee and Mr. Lewandowski had become a concerning issue and that a change would be welcome.
While some members of the Republican Party have welcomed Trump’s decision to part ways with Corey Lewandowski, others have suggested that it is Trump himself that needs a change in attitude and performance, and that if he goes on doing what he has always been doing, then a change in the staff won’t necessarily make a difference.
The main criticism against Lewandowski had always stemmed from his apparent lack of experience of working national campaigns. Many of Trump’s controversial moments and decisions had been attributed to Lewandowski, which had led a lot of people close to Trump to ask for his dismissal from the campaign. For instance, while many have urged the presumptive GOP nominee to be more politically correct in his speeches, to soften his message, and to build a more conventional political operation, Lewandowski had instead promoted his outspoken nature.
“Let Trump be Trump,” he would say.
Reports suggest that Ivanka Trump, Donald’s daughter, played a pivotal role in convincing him to fire Corey Lewandowski. Ivanka had been particularly critical of Corey for the past few months. There were reported tensions between Lewandowsky and her husband, Jared Kushner. There had been rumors that Lewandowski had attempted to plant a story against Jared, which ultimately proved to be the final straw for him.
Though it is not yet clear as who will become Trump’s new campaign manager, for the moment most of the duties have been delegated to other people, including his chief adviser, Paul Manafort.
[Image via Shutterstock]