'What could possibly go wrong?' Critics pile on 'desperate' Trump rehiring Lewandowski

Just hours after the Guardian's Hugo Lowell reported that the "sharks are circling" for Donald Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, Politico broke the news that Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been added to the 2024 campaign staff.

With the ground beneath the former president's campaign having undergone a seismic shift since Vice President Kamala Harris was elevated as his 2024 presidential opponent, the former president has seen his poll numbers spiral downward and there have been rumors a change was coming.

As Lowell explained on MSNBC on Thursday morning, "It has been a bad enough month, the previous month for the Trump campaign that there are enemies, real and perceived, that are starting to look at Trump campaign leadership team and really start to tell Trump, you know, you've got to get rid of these guys, you've got to reset it."

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That reset seems to have been initiated with the hiring of controversial Lewandowski, which was announced by Wiles and LaCivita in a statement that read in part, "As we head into the home stretch of this election, we are continuing to add to our impressive campaign team," before concluding that the new hires, all Trump campaign veterans' "unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the case against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the most radical ticket in American history.”

According to Tara Palmieri of Puck News, "Lewandowski told allies over the weekend that he was coming back as a campaign chairman, essentially a layer above Wiles and LaCivita. This comes as Trump, superstitious and nostalgic, wants the team that helped him win in 2016 back."

That news has critics both amused and stunned at how quickly Trump's campaign has collapsed and is widely regarded as a sign of "desperation."

As longtime campaign consultant Matthew Dowd put it on X, "Corey Lewandowski coming back to Trump campaign world is great news for Harris/Walz. Next best thing for Harris/Walz would be if Trump brought back serial liar Kellyanne Conway."

"Donald Trump is so desperate he’s bringing Corey Lewandowski back after he got fired for sexual harassment allegations. Same guy also attacked a reporter during the 2016 campaign. They’re not sending their best, folks," former senior Harris adviser Mike Nellis chipped in.

"This means things are going super good in Trump World," journalist Megan McCarthy quipped.

Referencing an unsubstantiated report that Lewandowski had an affair with Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), Restore Sanity2024, suggested: "Oh I didn’t realize the problem with the Trump campaign was a lack of staffers that can have an affair with Kristi Noem."

"What could possibly go wrong?" political journalist Carla Marinucci dryly asked.

Legal analyst Marcy Wheeler suggested, "The logic is that by bringing Lewandowski back you distract from JD's general misogyny and Trump's own sexual assault and affairs?"

Malex responded to the Politico report with, "Of course they are. Corey Lewandowski was fired from Trump PAC after sexual harassment allegations. Politico reported that the wife of a construction executive, accused Lewandowski of repeatedly touching her and speaking to her in graphic terms at the event. There were four first-hand witnesses who described the alleged incident."