Top Trump Aide Becomes First Victim of Inevitable Purges
While tensions within the Donald Trump campaign have yet to devolve into actual street violence, they resulted in their first major firing on Wednesday with the sudden departure of Rick Wiley, Trump’s national political director, Politico reports.
Since Trump brought on veteran consultant Paul Manafort to professionalize his insurgent primary campaign last month, reports of growing conflict between the old and new Trump camps have leaked out. Surprisingly, however, it was Wiley, a member of Trump’s new guard, that was first to get the axe. From Bloomberg:
Wiley was hired on April 13 to take over as national political director as Trump aimed to professionalize his staff after a primary loss in Wisconsin, a defeat that raised questions about whether Trump could carry his campaign over the finish line.
But the internal backbiting that has colored much of the Trump campaign caught up to Wiley, who managed Scott Walker’s presidential campaign and was a deputy political director for Rudy Giuliani’s campaign in 2008.
Trump was unhappy with Wiley’s management of the political team, particularly a clash with Karen Giorno in Florida. Bloomberg Politics reported earlier on Wednesday that Trump had shifted control of Florida away from Wiley and given it to Giorno, who ran the successful primary effort in the state.
“Rick picked a fight with the wrong person,” a campaign source told Politico. “Donald is loyal. And she’s loyal.”
Publicly, however, the Trump campaign downplayed the allegedly less than amicable parting.
“Rick Wiley was hired on a short-term basis as a consultant until the campaign was running at full steam,” said the campaign in a statement. “It is now doing better than ever, we are leading in the polls, and we have many exciting events ready to go, far ahead of schedule, while Hillary continues her long, boring quest against Bernie. We would like to thank Rick for helping us during this transition period.”
Don’t worry, Rick, it’s nothing unpersonal.