The Curious Hiring of Corey Lewandowski
He’s baaaaaack.
NO ONE’S QUITE SURE what exactly Corey Lewandowski is supposed to do on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Not Lewandowski. Not the campaign.
Even Trump, who, all of a sudden and with little warning, made the decision to bring on board his lightning-rod, longtime adviser seems uncertain about what role Lewandowksi will play.
“Corey Lewandowski’s coming in. He’ll be, you know, uh, personal envoy. Or he’ll be at some level,” Trump said Thursday at a press conference hours after his campaign hurriedly announced the hiring.
Four days later, everyone is still figuring it out.
“What’s Corey gonna do? I guess we’ll see? It wasn’t in the plans, but the [former] president wanted him, so we’re gonna make it happen,” said a Trump insider who spoke about internal operations on condition of anonymity.
For his part, Lewandowski is also not sure of his role. People who talked to him before taking the job said he told them he would come in as “campaign chairman.” But then, he apparently backed away from awarding himself that august title. He also told others he just wants to help.
Instead, he is likely to have a mishmash of responsibilities. Lewandowski is almost certain to do more TV appearances because “Trump wants more of a fighter out there,” according to one adviser. Others say they can also see him deployed to speak at grassroots events and to help campaign organizers known as “Trump 47 Captains” hit their goals in turning out voters.
Lewandowski couldn’t be reached for comment for this story.
Beyond any specific responsibility he may be given, Lewandowski’s hiring provides a window into the current state of the Trump campaign. The ex-president’s team has begun beefing up its ranks as it turns toward the general election and adjusts to Vice President Kamala Harris’s surging candidacy. At the same time, the campaign operates at the whims of the principal, who has shown that he won’t relinquish his long-standing penchant of making decisions on the fly. That includes decisions about staffing.
For weeks, as Harris has risen in polls and Trump has stumbled to get on message, advisers have been extinguishing rumors of a coming shakeup. Suspicions swirled for weeks that another former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, would be brought back on board. But they really took off after Conway posted a photo of her meeting with Trump in New Jersey.
Conway, so far, remains off the payroll. But to bolster its senior adviser ranks, the campaign early last week did bring on Taylor Budowich, the former head of the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.with a reputation as a strategic thinker. Budowich is a rarity in Trump world in that he’s well liked by warring factions. He also has great relationships with Trump, Trump’s sons, and Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance. Budowich is likely to travel with and advise Trump on the campaign trail.
But just as talk of a shakeup started to fade, Trump on Wednesday night threw a monkey wrench in the machinery.
“Let’s get Corey involved,” Trump mused aloud, according to a campaign source.
Lewandowski has a close friendship with Trump and frequently speaks to him. Trump made his former campaign manager the leader of his Make America Great Again Action super PAC after the 2020 election, but Lewandowski had to step down from the post in 2021 after a donor’s wife accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Still, he remained on good terms with Trump and his current campaign leadership, which hired him as a management consultant for the Republican National Convention.
Though he has had solid relations with the campaign, the Thursday announcement of Lewandowski’s return led to another round of chatter about the fate of campaign co-managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. At a press conference that day,Trump denied that there would beany pending shakeup.
“We have great people. Susie’s fantastic as you know. And Chris is fantastic,” Trump said.
The following day, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump also emphasized that no shakeup was in the offing, this time to the Daily Caller.
“I’ve been involved with three different Trump presidential campaigns and this is the best one yet. We’re way ahead of where we were in 2020 and 2016 at this point in the polling,” Donald Trump Jr. told the outlet. “It’s clear that criticism of the operation is coming from scorned people who are upset they don’t have a job with the campaign.”
Trump’s prior two runs for office have featured several prominent changes of the guards, including Lewandowski’s own departure as campaign manager in the summer of 2016. So talk of stability at the high ranks is always going to be treated with skepticism.
But in interviews with The Bulwark, six Trump advisers and confidants say Wiles and LaCivita are not in danger of losing their jobs and that they believe Lewandowski when he said he wanted to work with the team and not against them.
“I understand why Trump brought Corey back. There’s huge nervousness in Trumpland. And in the end, it was probably a good idea because he gets along with Chris and Susie,” said a confidant of Trump who has discussed the campaign with him. “But I’d be lying to say there’s no worry of a clash coming if things don’t straighten out.”
Orange Julius got tired of people telling him to be "intellectual" and "on message", so he brought in someone who would tell him how great he is, tell him he's winning in a landslide, and how he should keep doing what he's doing.
"...but Lewandowski had to step down from the post in 2021 after a donor’s wife accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Still, he remained on good terms with Trump and..." Lewandowski and Trump are fellow travelers.