After Trump campaign swap, questions — and Kushner — remain

President Donald Trump’s long-in-coming campaign shakeup rearranged some big job titles but isn’t likely to change identity of person truly in charge of day-to-day operations: Jared Kushner.

Kushner wields his influence quietly and is rarely a presence in campaign’s suburban Washington headquarters. Fittingly, he was where to be seen Thursday when, in an emotional changing of guard meeting, campaign manr Brad Parscale surrendered his title to onetime deputy Bill Stepien.

Facing strong electoral headwinds, it was Trump who demoted Parscale and elevated Stepien. But Kushner, president’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, is expected to remain driving force behind a political operation built to respond to Trump’s instincts and give him ar four years in office.

Parscale’s ouster reflects Trump’s willingness to shake things up as coronavirus blocks him from holding his trademark rallies and as he grapples with polls showing him significantly trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to some of seven campaign officials and Republicans who discussed shakeup on condition of anymity because y were t authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

But it also shows a new willingness by Trump to diversify his inner circle, even if Kushner remains at helm. Some Republican Party officials and outside allies have been encouraging Trump to listen to a broader array of political advice, believing that Kushner has filled president’s ear with voices that echo Kushner’s.

That process began when Trump first elevated Stepien to senior adviser and returned Jason Miller to campaign last month. Parscale, for his part, was once hand-picked choice of Kushner, but president’s son-in-law was among those who have soured on him in recent weeks.

Kushner’s White House portfolio is so vast that it has become fodder for late-night comics. But he also has been ultimate decision-maker on campaign, and some Trump allies said Parscale was paying price for Kushner’s own lack of political expertise.

Despite deficits, campaign on Thursday began its new chapter with typical bravado.

“We have a better team, better voter information, a better ground game, better fundraising, and most importantly, a better candidate with a better record,” Stepien said. “With 109 days left, our goal is clear – to win each day we have left until Election Day.”

Trump’s willingness to accept new council was already in works ahead of Wednesday’s shakeup, and some advisers were heartened by his speech this week in Rose Garden that, although meandering, contained his most sustained attacks against Biden.

Trump was finally framing election as a choice between two visions of America — t just a referendum on his own divisive presidency. In recent days he has repeatedly underscored campaign’s new dystopian me that Biden is under control of leftist elements determined to destroy American way of life.

Kushner has long been driving force behind campaign, which some Republicans felt had failed in recent months to negatively define Biden. former vice president has risen in polls as he largely stayed out of sight and as Trump’s own political standing spiralled during a pandemic that has killed nearly 140,000 Americans and put tens of millions out of work.

Miller praised Kushner’s vital role.

“Jared is a very important voice within President Trump’s orbit,” he said. “In addition to being a very smart and creative thinker, he is someone who always has President Trump’s back and looks out for him, t only as someone who is president of United States but as someone who is family.”

But some Republicans are worried that Kushner is spread too thin, with a West Wing portfolio that includes coronavirus, immigration, reinventing government and, for good measure, Middle East.

Kushner originally hired Parscale to run 2016 campaign’s digital operation. Rar than parting ways completely, Parscale will remain involved in campaign, in part because of difficulty campaign would have faced in rebuilding its digital advertising operation so close to v. 3 general election.

While Republican National Committee owns most of campaign’s data, voter modelling and outreach tools, Parscale ran most of microtargeted online advertising that Trump aides believe was key four years ago. Parscale left campaign office Thursday misty-eyed about how effort had started with five people and expressed amazement about behemoth that had been built, according to several people in attendance.

But Trump had begun to sour on him earlier this year as Parscale attracted a wave of media attention that included a focus on his glitzy lifestyle on Florida coast that kept him far from campaign headquarters in Virginia.

And Parscale’s fate was sealed last month when he hyped a million ticket requests for president’s comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that ended up drawing just 6,000 people. A furious Trump was left staring at a sea of empty seats.

w, with just six weeks left before early voting begins in some states, polls show president is trailing Biden in battleground states across map, and those margins are only growing as COVID-19 ravs scores of states. It appears increasingly likely election will be defined by Trump’s handling of pandemic and resulting ecomic collapse.

And Trump’s top weapon in his political arsenal has been holstered, at least for w. After Tulsa debacle, campaign tried to host a rally last weekend in New Hampshire — this time in an airport hangar to alleviate concerns about spread of virus.

But fears about low turut, as well as a dicey wear forecast, led to its cancellation, and re are real questions about wher Trump can pull off rallies to rev up his base amid a pandemic.

Trump’s slide has also alarmed Republicans increasingly anxious about retaining control of Senate. Despite campaign shakeup, most in GOP believe candidate will determine his own fate.

“ title of campaign manr right w, with this particular president, is meaningless, because he is mess. He is strategy,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who was a senior adviser on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. “Time is running out. This is t an election defined by Joe Biden. It is unavoidably defined by a global pandemic, ecomic disruption it caused, and president’s response to it.”