WASHINGTON: In the summer of 2016,
Donald Trump
was trailing in the polls. With time running out, he changed up his campaign leadership team, though not his own mercurial behaviour.
Four years later, and in the midst of another summer slump, Trump is hoping a similar campaign shakeup will help put him on the path to another come-from-behind victory in November, this time against Democrat
Joe Biden
.
But there are multiple reasons why 2020 is a very different campaign year for Trump. Chief among them is Trump’s own positioning.
Trump ran in 2016 as an outsider, someone who could shake up
Washington
and bring a businessman’s acumen to the federal government.
Now, he’s the chief executive in Washington at a time of extraordinary national crises and facing overwhelmingly negative reviews from Americans for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and for his response to a national reckoning over race.
The issue that needs to be addressed, according to some Republicans, isn’t how Trump’s campaign is run. It’s Trump himself.
“This campaign’s problem is the president is alienating so