The resignation of Paul Manafort as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman was inevitable after details of his highly paid ties to the pro-Russian former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych became public at the start of this week. On Friday, Mr Manafort’s departure was confirmed. Even in a presidential campaign in which Mr Trump had appeared aggressively unconcerned about his reputation as the Kremlin’s preferred candidate – and in which he had called on Russia to hack and publish Hillary Clinton’s emails – this was an embarrassment too far.
Yet the resignation cannot simply be put down even to the red faces caused by charges of Moscow gold at the heart of the Republican campaign. Mr Trump has got where he is by scorning, not following, the usual rules. The difference now is that he is getting towards the business end of the presidential campaign, and it’s going badly. Attacks that seemed to leave no dent in Mr Trump’s armour a few weeks ago, have now begun to leave plenty. The polls have been tipping Mrs Clinton’s way. If Mr Trump seriously wanted to salvage his campaign, he had to act.
Yet it is far too early to say that the way he has so far shaken up his campaign – which partly preceded the departure of Mr Manafort anyway – marks a change of direction. There has been lots of media talk about a “pivot” towards a more presidential tone and a more consistent appeal to centre-ground voters. Yet little that Mr Trump has said or done since winning the Republican nomination in Cleveland in July points in that direction. On the contrary, his campaign appearances have continued to rely on the brutally populist campaign of the past. This is precisely why so many Republicans, including sitting senators, members of Congress and dozens of officials in former Republican administrations, have turned against him.
Mr Trump apologised for some of his language and attacks in a speech on Thursday night in North Carolina. But he was totally unspecific about what he was apologising for. Among many other things, he has taunted other Republicans, called Barack Obama the founder of Islamic State, hinted that gun-owners could shoot Mrs Clinton, boasted about his anatomy, insulted Latinos, immigrants, women and, most recently, abused the Muslim-American family of a dead US soldier. In the past, Mr Trump has confessed to using such language to create campaign momentum. If he genuinely proposes to alter course, it will take more than one very general speech in order to prove it.
When Mr Trump started shaking up his campaign a few days ago, there was little sign that he was taking a new tack either. If anything, the signs were the opposite. His new chief executive is a man of the hard right, Stephen Bannon. He is being prepped for the TV debates with Mrs Clinton by Roger Ailes, who quit as chair of Fox News amid allegations of sexual harassment. If anything, it was Mr Manafort who was one of the strongest advocates of a pivot to the centre, not them. The changes may actually increase not reduce the chances that Mr Trump will continue to shoot from the hip. Mr Trump will do anything it takes to win, another former Trump strategist said yesterday. That’s exactly the worry.
