To compete against Democratic US presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican hopeful Donald Trump has finally conceded, he needs more than the bare-bones campaign team that led him to primary success.
Yet he is finding that many of the Republican Party’s most experienced political aides just are not willing to work for him.
From Texas to New Hampshire, well-respected members of the Republican Party’s professional class say they cannot look past their deep personal and professional reservations about the presumptive presidential nominee.
Photo: AFP
There are exceptions, but many operatives who best understand the mechanics of presidential politics fear that taking a Trump paycheck might stain their resumes, spook other clients and even cause problems at home. They are also reluctant to devote months to a divisive candidate whose campaign has been plagued by infighting and disorganization.
“Right now, I feel no obligation to lift a finger to help Donald Trump,” said Brent Swander, an Ohio-based operative who has coordinated nationwide logistics for Republican presidential campaigns dating back to former US president George W. Bush.
“Everything that we’re taught as children — not to bully, not to demean, to treat others with respect — everything we’re taught as children is the exact opposite of what the Republican nominee is doing. How do you work for somebody like that? What would I tell my family?” Swander said.
Trump leapt into presidential politics with a small group of aides, some drafted directly from his realestate business, with no experience running a White House campaign. An unquestioned success in the Republican primaries, they have struggled to respond to the increased demands of a general election as Trump emerged as the party’s presumptive nominee.
As in years past, the primary season created a pool of battle-tested staffers who worked for other candidates, from which Trump would be expected to draw. However, hundreds of such aides have declined invitations to work for Trump.
They include several communications aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, as well as Christie’s senior political adviser, Michael DuHaime, who said he declined direct and indirect inquiries to work for the billionaire.
Chris Wilson, a senior aide to US Senator Ted Cruz, said the Texas senator’s entire paid staff of more than 150 ignored encouragement from Trump’s team to apply for positions after he dropped out of the presidential race. Wilson said that even now, many unemployed Cruz aides are refusing to work for Trump.
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