- President Donald Trump on Wednesday night announced the demotion of his current campaign manager, Brad Parscale.
- Bill Stepien takes over in the top slot, though Insider reported in May that he'd effectively been given the primary role while Parscale retained his title in name only.
- Parscale will remain in the Trump campaign as a senior adviser for data and digital operations, a role similar to the one he had during the 2016 presidential race.
- This is Trump's first major campaign shakeup of 2020. But it's also not unusual for the president, who had three significant leadership changes during his first successful run for the White House four years ago.
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President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the current campaign manager Brad Parscale will be replaced by current deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien.
In a Facebook post, the president said Parscale will now serve as a senior adviser for data and digital operations.
"Both were heavily involved in our historic 2016 win, and I look forward to having a big and very important second win together," Trump said in his announcement.
According to The New York Times, senior White House adviser and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also confirmed the new roles.
"Brad and Bill were both unsung heroes of the 2016 campaign and have done a great job building the infrastructure for the president's campaign for the 2020 race. Together they both bring unique strengths," Kushner told the Times.
Parscale's demotion follows months of trouble inside the president's reelection campaign. Opposing factions who had been boxed out by Jared Kushner and Parscale were attacking Parscale from the outside — circulating stories of him earning too much money from the campaign. One adviser said Trump dubbed Parscale the "$10 million man," a reference to the shocking fees he was collecting for his campaign work.
Kushner layered over Parscale in May, as first reported by Insider — but Trump's move Wednesday marked the formal, if shockingly gentle, ouster of Parscale.
Parscale lost big battles inside the campaign recently, including a failed effort with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to keep Trump loyalist Susie Wiles off the campaign.
Trump's decision followed one day after a bruising Washington Post story detailing Parscale's recent work phoning it in poolside in Florida.
Parscale's demotion is well within the norm for the Trump campaign. By June of 2016, Trump had moved on from his first campaign manager after firing Corey Lewandowski. Paul Manafort followed in the top Trump 2016 role, though he too got ousted amid questions about questionable payments to his lobbying firm from Ukrainian politicians that two years later would lead to his conviction on multiple fraud charges and ultimately a 7.5-year prison sentence. Trump finished out his first presidential run with Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway in charge.
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