What Lewandowski’s return means for the Trump campaign

Corey Lewandowski is back in the headlines after the 2016 campaign manager was tapped as a senior adviser Thursday, in a move that puts the hard-charging politico back in the fray alongside senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.

The move has been brewing for some time. The Trump family had expressed growing frustration with the slow response to the Democrats’ bait-and-switch candidate swap, and jealous, competing power centers within the mid-level ranks of the campaign have only added to the irritation.

With just over 80 days left until Election Day, as one Trump veteran put it, “it’s time to get to the races.”

LaCivita and Wiles still have their jobs and have voiced public approval for the new hires, but it’s hard to miss that the two veteran politicos promised an orderly operation — and thus far have not delivered.

While talks to bring Lewandowski were in motion this past weekend, they’ve quickly progressed toward action. The new addition began making moves Thursday to reassemble the 2016 team, tapping original talent that had been boxed out or moved on in the hopes of recreating the team of old-school loyalists former President Donald Trump trusts and building out the campaign’s internal muscle.

Campaign shake-ups are not unusual on any level. Eight years later, it’s easy to forget how bare bones a campaign an insurgent Trump ran in 2016. His re-election effort was more professional, but when the campaign began to run out of money, campaign manager Brad Parscale was shown the door in July and Bill Stepien was brought in.

The ghosts of 2020 still haunt the Trump campaign, which over the past few months has worked to save money by outsourcing its ground game and a lot of its infrastructure to outside organizations and the Republican National Committee and has allowed super PACs to spend like sailors on advertising while holding its own war chest for the special candidate rates later in the race, when things get more expensive.

The campaign may have outsourced a bit too much for the family’s liking, however — or at least not shown the results they expected. It’s too early to tell where it’s all going, but the broader public is just starting to pay attention. With just over 80 days left until Election Day, as one Trump veteran put it, “it’s time to get to the races.”

Editor's note: This post initially reported that Lewandowski was "campaign chairman," above Wiles and LaCivita. The formal title is "senior adviser," and power relations are still playing out.

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