Can Bill Stepien pull it off in 2020? Trump camp mostly in favor of 'insider' but few still doubt his abilities
President Donald Trump made a desperate move recently by replacing his long-term campaign manager Brad Parscale with Bill Stepien, a seasoned campaign manager who has a notable track record, to improve his plummeting pre-poll figures. However, the president’s camp is not in consensus over Stepien’s promotion as the 42-year-old is seen by many as an outsider who is not adequately involved with the ‘America First’ doctrine.
According to a veteran from Trump’s winning team from 2016, the ‘first-in’ alumni group should receive a preference in the November re-election, when expressing an opinion over the appointment of people who arrived late in the scene to senior positions, the Washington Examiner reported. Stepien, however, was involved in Trump’s 2016 campaign and went on to become the White House director of political affairs the day Trump took oath as the commander-in-chief. It was a return to prominence for the man who temporarily faded from public memory after his differences with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who he helped to bag the post twice, over the Bridgegate scandal of 2013.
Trump camp divided over Bill Stepien's role
John Fredericks, radio host and advisory board member of Trump’s 2020 campaign, also expressed less confidence in Stepien saying the latter is a kind of Republican who will be more inclined to work for somebody like Mitt Romney, who voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment in the Senate earlier this year. “Romney 2.0, or Christie 7.0,” Fredericks taunted after Stepien's appointment came on July 15, the Examiner report added.
But there are also voices in the president’s campaign who feel in favor of Stepien. Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communication director, defended the new campaign manager as one who has known the mission four years earlier as well. “Bill Stepien was the national field director on the 2016 Trump campaign and was responsible for turning out the Republican base to vote for President Trump. Over the last four years, he has maintained that contact both in the White House and on the 2020 campaign. Bill knows the Republican base and knows how to win elections,” he was quoted as saying by the same report.
Conservative Trumpers also see Stepien as an insider. The man has not only managed Christie’s campaigns but also served as the national field director for former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani and the late John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. He has also been in charge of newly turned Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s 2020 re-election campaign. In 2004, too, Stepien was former president George W Bush campaign’s political director in New Hampshire. Stepien is also close to Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Corey Lewandowski, who managed the president’s 2016 campaign during the primaries and is a senior adviser to the re-election mission, refused to consider Stepien an “establishment figure” and told the Examiner: “He’s a movement guy. There should be nobody questioning his commitment to this campaign or bonafides.” He called Stepien “a phenomenal tactician” and gave him full support.
Fredericks, however, is more in favor of Lewandowski saying he understands the ways to reach the base better than anybody else except Steve Bannon, a former White House aide to Trump. He also praised David Bossie, former deputy campaign manager, as one who understands the pulse of the campaign.
But whatever his critics feel, the fact that Trump himself picked Stepien has silenced all. One source close to the developments said the president “transcended beyond the original base of 2016”.
With the big election not too far away, Trump’s campaign is certainly going to witness key changes under Stepien’s leadership. “Stepien understands campaigning, so there are certain institutional things as far as campaigning will go that I think will step up, but the question is, will he lead the messaging or the nuts and bolts?” a GOP consultant was quoted as saying. “You need people like Bossie and some of these movement conservatives to really lead the messaging forward.”