Trump demotes campaign manager Brad Parscale in leadership shakeup
Shakeup comes as Trump's poll numbers are increasingly bleak
President Donald Trump is shaking up his reelection campaign leadership team, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with his deputy, Bill Stepien.
Stepien was promoted to deputy campaign manager just two months ago. He formerly served as the White House political director and was the national field director during Trump's first campaign for president in 2016. Parscale will remain as a senior adviser and the head of digital and data strategies.
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The move comes as Trump's poll numbers look increasingly bleak. A Quinnipiac University poll Wednesday put Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of Trump by 15 points, almost double the lead Biden had just a month before in the same poll.
Despite that, the president struck an optimistic tone on Wednesday in announcing the news.
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"Both were heavily involved in our historic 2016 win, and I look forward to having a big and very important second win together," Trump wrote on Facebook in an announcement of the shakeup. "This one should be a lot easier as our poll numbers are rising fast, the economy is getting better, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities!"
The Washington Post reported Sunday that the president was dissatisfied with his campaign manager and portrayed Parscale as an opportunist who doesn't fully grasp the intricacies of electoral politics.