Donald Trump has replaced his campaign manager Brad Parscale, demoting him to senior adviser after a series of missteps and falling poll numbers. Bill Stepien, the deputy campaign manager, will take over the top role, the president announced on Facebook on Wednesday evening.
Parscale had been under pressure since June after an underattended rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where only 6,200 supporters turned up despite his predictions of hundreds of thousands. The disappointing turnout reportedly angered the president's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
The reshuffle comes as Trump trails his Democratic opponent Joe Biden by 15 points in a Quinnipiac national poll. The administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 137,000 Americans, and the economic downturn are seen as factors in the president's dip in approval ratings.
Parscale, who had no political background before joining the Trump campaign in 2018, has been accused of profiting unduly from the campaign. His companies earned nearly $40m from Trump election committees, according to a HuffPost analysis. He has also drawn criticism for his role in the campaign's misleading social media strategies.
Stepien, who worked as Trump's field director in 2016, is a former top aide to Chris Christie. His promotion was praised by Roger Stone, a convicted felon whose prison sentence for lying to Congress was commuted by Trump last Friday. Stepien was described by Stone as an 'excellent choice'.
