In a deep dive into Donald Trump's very bad June that saw his poll numbers plummet while COVID-19 infections rocketed upward in the U.S., Politico reports that the shake-up in the president's re-election campaign has led to questions, not only about how the Trump 2020 campaign is being run, but also what is going on with the Republican National Committee's campaign arm.
Reporting that White House jack-of-all-trades Jared Kushner is said to be behind the demotion of campaign’s chief operating officer Michael Glassner with protege Jeff DeWit -- who reportedly walked into Glassner's office and informed him of the change -- Politico notes that DeWit then visited the RNC's offices to find out how they were spending money which was not well-received.
"Aides said Glassner’s demotion was a result of the president’s disastrous June 20 rally in Tulsa, Okla., where thousands of seats sat empty. While Glassner arranged logistics for Trump’s rallies, some aides said it was unfair to hold him responsible for failing to fill the arena. Other Trump officials said the plan was always to remove Glassner as the race headed into the final months," wrote Politico's Alex Isenstadt before noting the RNC visit.
"The next day, DeWit went to the Republican National Committee’s Capitol Hill headquarters to go over budgeting and ask questions about finances," he added. "But party officials left the meeting annoyed and feeling that he didn’t understand the basics of campaign spending, according to a person familiar with what took place."
According to the report, one person familiar with the meeting disputed the criticism about DeWit's qualifications to understand campaign finances and said that he "was trying to verify that the committee was providing the reelection campaign with an accurate read on how it was spending money."
As for how the president's re-election efforts are going, GOP consultant Scott Jennings -- who is closely allied with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- admitted, "I’d say Republicans are feeling anxious, and there’s a real sense of urgency for the president to precisely define his second term agenda. What are we running on? His answers on that have been lacking and he needs to show people why he wants four more years.”
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