If Romney’s campaign concocted its own polling to convince itself it was winning in 2012, then Team Trump is retreating into another universe altogether, another sign that his campaign represents the triumph of the right-wing echo chamber.
Yesterday, Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen appeared on CNN to deny that there had been any campaign shakeup. He then pushed back against host Brianna Keilar’s statement that Trump was currently down against Hillary Clinton: “Says who?”
“Polls,” Keilar responded. “Most of them. All of them?”
After an uncomfortable pause, Cohen reiterated: “Says who?”
“Polls. I just told you. I answered your question.”
“Which polls?”
“All of them.”
On CNN this morning, new campaign adviser Kellyanne Conway was asked about the offensive headlines at Breitbart, whose chief, Stephen Bannon, is now leading Trump’s campaign. These include: “There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews”; “Sympathy for the Devils: The Plot Against Roger Ailes—and America”; “Big Trans Hate Machine Targets Pitching Great Curt Schilling”; and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”
Conway didn’t seem to see anything wrong with them: “I’ve not read those stories, but I have to say—not unlike the reason that most of the media cover Donald Trump, and not Hillary Clinton—people like to click on headlines and see what they’re about.”
It appears that Bannon and Conway were brought in so that Trump wouldn’t be surrounded by advisers telling him to change. The only way they could think this is a good idea is if they are living in a separate world from the rest of us.