2016 August 17^th

Donald Trump has done another campaign shakeup. (This is two shakeups in two months.) His sycophants claim it is no such thing; it’s just a couple of additions to an admittedly skeleton crew. Trump has added Kellyanne Conway, a right wing pollster who has appeared on many panels vigorously and loudly defending “Mr. Trump.” She is a tad less irritating than Katrina Pierson whose “take no prisoners” attitude coupled with her absolutely expressionless face makes her memorable.

Ms. Conway is, at least pro tem, the “Campaign Manager” according to Mr. Trump. As a sidelight here, Ms. Conway’s “Wikipedia” entry was “edited” earlier this morning to remove some less than complimentary assertions. It is quite possible that the uncomplimentary assertions were libelous and deserved to be removed, but their removal just now is an interesting coincidence.

Stephen Bannon has also been added to the campaign. He was formerly the honcho at Breitbart News, an organization reputed to manufacture the news it would like to report if that news did not exist naturally. Bannon has served in the Navy in positions of responsibility and he has also worked for Goldman Sachs, so he is not devoted completely to the roll of iconoclast.

Bannon is now officially “Chief Executive” of the Trump campaign. (One wonders if Trump hands out glorious titles in lieu of cash. Does anyone know who the equivalent title holders are in the Clinton campaign…or have been in any previous campaign?)

Paul Manafort has not been demoted because he still has the title he held before; he is “Chairman” of the campaign. Who tells whom what to do is not clearly specified and no wonder, although Kellyanne Conway as “Campaign Manager,” seems to have the least glorious title and the one requiring the most work. What else is new?

Manafort has come in for some very unfavorable publicity recently thanks to the “failing” New York Times. It seems that some unrecorded money might have changed hands as a result of Manafort’s fine work on behalf of a Ukraine pol who was really a Russian sympathizer. Manafort was hired to help the man’s unfortunate image; he apparently did that very well.

The Russian connections to the Trump campaign are beginning to mount up. There is notably the Putin-Trump mutual admiration society; there was the removal from the Republican platform of a plank calling for increased armed support for Ukraine; there was Trump’s plea for the Russian hackers to produce Clinton’s emails; there was Trump’s assertion that we might not honor NATO obligations to defend some tiny Baltic countries if they were attacked by Russia.

Maybe Manafort is being eased out. One thing is certain: no one can persuade Donald Trump that he should change course or that he is wrong about anything. Hillary Clinton can be very thankful about that; it is greasing her path to the presidency…and she needs it.