Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale takes the heat for Trump's Tulsa flop, hasn't yet taken the fall

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 23 June 2020

President Trump's lightly attended Tulsa campaign rally fell so far short of the campaign's own metrics that even as spin-happy a place as the White House was hard-pressed to find good things to say about it. "As always with Trump, he's already looking for someone to blame," Gabriel Sherman reports at Vanity Fair. "The most obvious candidate, according to sources, is his embattled campaign manager, Brad Parscale." Trump associates, staff, and allies also directed blame at Michael Glassner, the campaign's chief operating officer, The Daily Beast adds.

The rally "was a disaster and I think the reality is that it's not a good way to start a general election campaign," Ed Rollins, the veteran GOP strategist who leads the pro-Trump group Great America PAC, told The Daily Beast. Trump himself was "rambling" and had "no message" but he should also "get a campaign manager who is running a campaign, not companies outside of it," Rollins added. "My sense is [Parscale's] making way too much money," and "something is not working and something has to change." A Republican close to the White House was less polite, telling Vanity Fair, "Brad really sh-t the bed Saturday night."

Trump adviser Jason Miller told Sherman that Parscale's job is secure, and The Daily Beast reports that both Parscale and Glassner's jobs were safe "as of Monday," but Trump has "suggested there would be major consequences for campaign staff if this wasn't 'fixed' and if he saw too many empty seats at his next coronavirus-era mega-rally." Sherman's sources say Parscale may not wait for the ax to fall. "He knows he can't survive," one source said.

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The Tulsa imbroglio isn't the only problem besetting the Trump campaign — the president's poll numbers are dropping, and Democratic rival Joe Biden raised more money and, more importantly, more small-dollar contributions last month, The Daily Beast details. Trump also blames Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and shadow campaign chief, Vanity Fair reports, and among those under consideration to replace Parscale are three 2016 staffers Kushner sidelined: Miller, David Bossie, and Trump's first campaign manger Corey Lewandowski. A person close to Trump poured a cold Slurpee on the Lewandowsi suggestion, though: "Corey was great when it was just Trump and an airplane. But let's face it, he couldn't manage a 7-Eleven."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.