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DONALD TRUMP ANNOUNCED today that he shaking up his senior campaign staff, appointing a conservative website executive and a pollster to head his team amid sinking poll numbers.
The Republican presidential nominee also announced that this week his campaign will launch TV ads for the first time.
Trump’s reluctance to buy TV spots has raised eyebrows as his unorthodox quest for the White House has run into trouble in recent weeks.
Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of the influential Breitbart News site, will serve as the campaign’s chief executive, the Trump campaign said in a statement.
Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Republican pollster, will become campaign manager.
Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman who in recent days has come under scrutiny for his links to the pro-Russia former president of Ukraine, will remain in his current role.
“I have known Steve and Kellyanne both for many years. They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win,” Trump said in the statement.
I believe we’re adding some of the best talents in politics, with the experience and expertise needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and continue to share my message and vision to Make America Great Again.
’Core four’
Bannon will oversee campaign staff and operations and “strategic oversight of major campaign initiatives,” the statement said.
Conway will focus on “messaging”, regularly travelling with Trump while also working closely with Manafort and Bannon, the statement said.
The campaign said the changes come amid what it called significant growth for the Trump candidacy, “with the first major TV ad buy of the general election slated to start later this week and with additional top-flight operatives joining the movement on a near-daily basis”.
Conway denied the staff changes constitute a shake-up.
“It’s an expansion at a busy time in the final stretch of the campaign,” she told The New York Times.
“We met as the ‘core four’ today,” she was quoted as saying, referring to herself, Bannon, Manafort and Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates.
With 82 days to go until the election, Trump’s campaign has been listing badly following a recent series of gaffes that had even members of his own party begging him to reel in his brash remarks.
Trump’s denigration of the family of a fallen Muslim-American soldier was seen by many as a monumental campaign misstep and a turning point in the contentious 2016 presidential race.
According to a NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released Tuesday, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton holds a six-point lead over Trump, 43% to his 37%, with two minor party candidates securing a combined 15%
In June, Trump dumped his then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who had been credited with the real estate magnate’s initial breakthrough in the primaries.
But in the lead-up to the Republican Party convention, Lewandowski found himself sidelined by more experienced political operatives like Manafort.
Lewandowski had also attracted distracting controversy following a run-in with a Breitbart News reporter at a Trump rally who accused him of roughly grabbing her arm.
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Sympathy to the poor woman, but serious sympathy to the poor truck driver, this is becoming all to frequent in this country, he was only doing his days work, minding his own business.
That poor woman. Her whole life turned upside down on a morning where we all should be just enjoying the sunshine and then this happens. Devastated for her.
This is utterly horrible. Poor young mum. Poor wee kid. Words fail me
So tragic. How is that mother ever going to get over this. Rip little man. Watch over your mam.
Looks like it was deliberate. I could be wrong but it looks like attempted murder of the woman and murder/ suicide of the child and man. I know that road well and if he was from Lattin he would know it well too and would know not to overtake. Rip to both and my utmost sympathy to the mother of the little boy.
He’s not eastern European, his parents are Italian, but he was born and raised here,
Don’t like the look where this story is going
It’s easy to condemn but the poor man must have been in a very distressed state of mind to do something like that.
RIP.
Fcuk him. He just destroyed a mothers life and murdered her son. If he lives we would all be saying he should be locked up. But now that he died we feel sorry for him. And don’t get me started on the funeral service for this fella where the priests says “it’s a dark day”.. This man just murdered his son and attempted to murder his partner. S(umbag
Ricky.. Most murdering b@stards are in a distressed state of mind
When a mother murders her children society reaches out the hand of compassion and understanding.
Why is it not the same for fathers?
Ricky. Murdering mothers are worse than mothering dads
Just think about what happened here for a moment………and reflect on how this situation spiralled out of control to this point. The human tragedy involved.
Can we truly say we understand it and as such are in a position to make a judgement call one way or the other?
Sinead I hope you are never in a situation where your mind is so badly messed up by depression that you are not thinking rationally. Obviously this man was out of his mind doing this and it breaks my heart that a little boy has died and his mother had to go through such an assault, but nobody knows his circumstances and shouldn’t be quick to judge that he was ” evil” . I’m not saying I agree with what he did because I don’t , but with serious mental health problems a while back myself I know that your mind does not think normally . I certainly hope this is the case with him because I’d hate to think this WAS an act of pure evil
Oh no. That poor little boy. Whether the crash was an accident or deliberate, no child deserves that.
So sad, too much detail re the crash. Horrible set of circumstances
It’s just so sad to be hearing about theses suicides , people should always realised that life is 2 step backwards and 1 step forward , this carry on could be avoided… RIP to the little lad … So sad !
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