Perhaps you’ve heard of the Peter Principle, the notion that competent people rise in their jobs until they reach a point where they DON’T know what they’re doing. I.e., they’re promoted to the level of their incompetence. Did the opposite happen to now-former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, or is a more-definitive break in the offing?
As I noted a few weeks back, “Parscale’s fundamentally a mechanic, not a messaging guy, so perhaps Trump would be wise to hire staff to help with top-level strategy.” Even a “normal” president’s reelection campaign might restructure if it were in the position Trump now occupies, at least to have a chance to change a media narrative. Plus, Trump being Trump, he’ll naturally flail around for someone to blame other than the obvious target: himself.
But we’ve also heard that the campaign is auditing past spending, and it’s possible they may find actual malfeasance (no one gets to misuse Trump campaign resources but Trump). According to the Daily Mail, Parscale’s working on digital strategy poolside and shirtless in Florida, cocktail in hand (with photos to prove it). While most of us might prefer that setting to a crowded campaign office in a pandemic, it still suggests that he’s not exactly sitting in the Trumpian inner circle.
Parscale’s grown rich off of Trump and seems to remain a true believer in the cause, so I’ll shed no tears over his loss of status. Next up, let’s see if he stays as digital advisor or gets pushed off the diving board and into the deep end. If he does, will Trump’s vaunted digital campaign survive the loss of its architect?
– cpd