Presidential historian Craig Shirley lamented the timing of Donald Trump's latest shakeup Wednesday, telling Newsmax TV's Ed Berliner on "The Hard Line" that the move blurred the message and covered up what was a potentially impactful speech Tuesday night in Wisconsin.
"Is Trump rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?" Shirley asked.
"Instead of talking about the speech last night and what it means for American inner cities and America's police, we're talking about a staff shakeup, which is one more precious day lost of the Republican candidate telling the American people what he's going to do for them instead of the problems of his campaign."
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Maligned Republican presidential nominee Trump announced Wednesday he has brought in Breitbart News chief Stephen Bannon as CEO and pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, effectively sending standing campaign chairman Paul Manafort to the bullpen.
"All it's sending to the American people — the message that there's something wrong with Donald Trump's campaign — maybe there's something wrong with Donald Trump," Shirley told Berliner.
"The problem overall with the Trump campaign, and there are many [problems], is that there are only three resources in any political campaign: there's time; there's money; and there's people. Now, you can always raise more money; you can recruit more people. You cannot manufacture more time.
"Time is finite and he's burning the daylight right now not getting his message up and instead talking about staff and talking about things that have no consequence whatsoever to the American people."
Shirley is author of "The Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan."
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