Republican Venality

Trump’s new kitchen cabinet, a combination of White House and campaign employees led by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, includes Parscale’s recently promoted deputy, Bill Stepien, and two communications aides from the 2016 campaign — Hope Hicks and Jason Miller, who was recently hired by the campaign and is increasingly seen as its principal strategist…

Parscale, 44, has long occupied a unique spot in Trump’s orbit. At 6-foot-8 with a dramatic red beard, he cuts a brash figure and is given to statements such as comparing the Trump campaign to the Death Star, a superweapon in the Star Wars movies. In many ways, his self-promotion and aggressive style mirror Trump’s.

In a statement for this report, Parscale denied any weakening of his position and rejected criticism of his performance.

“This is the same tired story being shopped every week by the same lowlife anonymous sources who are putting their own personal interests ahead of the president and his campaign, in a misguided attempt to weasel their way in to resurrect their failed and disgraced careers,” Parscale said.

But campaign and White House officials say Parscale does not always appear to understand the political dynamics of crucial swing states. In a recent meeting at RNC headquarters, an official said, Parscale asked questions about the reelection budget that suggested he did not fully grasp it. Trump and Kushner have begun interrupting him more frequently when he speaks, this person said.

Allies of Parscale say that he maintains the trust of the Trump family — including Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law — and that he continues to advise the president and travels weekly to the White House. Many on the expanded team, they said, work well with Parscale, and he is largely responsible for the massive reelection operation, with its million-plus volunteers, nearly $300 million in cash and extensive data operation.

[Translation: They can’t let him go until he releases the database passwords, not to mention the account numbers on both the ‘official’ and the actual campaign accounts.]

“Brad is absolutely the right man for the job,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “His work ethic and command of what it takes to run a successful campaign in 2020 is second to none.”…

[And Kevin McCarthy is being set up as a fall guy, since he’s too dumb to understand his plight in time to sell out to the authorities.]

The official said the most important people in Trump’s orbit still trust Parscale. “In this town, you have a lot of people who are the political consultants who are always trying to position things,” the official said. “That is not Brad. We know he has the same intention as the family.”

That confidence, however, has not prevented internal complaints about Parscale’s frequent absence from campaign headquarters. Parscale lives in Florida, while the campaign is based in Northern Virginia. Staffers say that when they talk to him, he is often by his pool in Fort Lauderdale…

[Skilled grifters know: Never take a day off; somebody might go through your desk drawers and find the keys.]

Parscale added, “These anonymous cowards have no valid criticisms of the job I’m doing, so now they’re attacking where I sit.”

The dissent comes as several longtime Trump advisers are trying to lift the president out of his dismay over the state of his campaign.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie recently sent Trump a lengthy memo explaining that the president could not run the same campaign in 2020 as in 2016 and offering various ways to improve his standing. Other informal advisers, such as Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax, have counseled the president to change course in ways that would appeal to independent-minded voters…

The amount of money that Parscale has personally earned from the campaign is undisclosed in Federal Election Commission reports, because the reports do not distinguish between the money that goes directly to him and the payments that go to his firm, Parscale Strategies, for pass-through costs.

Between September and May, those accounts paid Parscale Strategy an average of $100,905 a month. Still, the payments included multiple salaries for other people, including campaign adviser Lara Trump, who is the wife of the president’s son Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a campaign fundraiser who is dating Donald Trump Jr., according to a person familiar with the situation…

That’s the problem with being a criminal enterprise like the Trump family: The only way to safely fire underlings is to have them killed. And IMO one sign that Putin isn’t as invested in the Trump / GOP campaign this year is that none of the various ‘traitors’ to the Squatter-in-Chief *have* been ‘disappeared’… yet.

Also, terrible as Parscale’s ‘Death Star / Trojan horse’ ads might be, they’re still an improvement over those of Mr. Guest, political publicity understander and Trump supporter:

Ah, @SteveGuest deleted it. Here it is for posterity. The picture was taken not long after Biden’s wife and daughter died in a car crash in the early ‘70s. Anyone with a baseline knowledge of Biden’s history knows this. The voters will remind you, Steve. pic.twitter.com/WOlWUZXguP

— Charlotte Clymer ?????? (@cmclymer) July 13, 2020

Hey @SteveGuest, why did you delete this Tweet? Don't worry, we saved it for you. pic.twitter.com/6ckd3X70mG

— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) July 13, 2020

Trump’s camp hastens to reassure him: No way will his opponents be able to find a picture of Mr. Trump cuddling any of his young offspring! Heck, he didn’t even hold Ivanka until she was old enough to fondle inappropriately, right, sir?…

hey joe biden are you still a redskins fan pic.twitter.com/efowU483a7

— kilgore trout, suburban female understander (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 13, 2020