And so arrives a harbinger of campaigns that are about to be in trouble: which is to say, insider-driven articles by insider-friendly media, detailing how a particular campaign is already in trouble. In this particular case, the campaign is Donald Trump’s, and the insider-friendly media is Politico. Apparently Team Trump let a lot of people go last month, and some of those people were more than happy to tell their stories, and air more than a little of their dirty laundry in the process. Which is one reason why you don’t do mass layoffs in the middle of a campaign season, particularly when you’re about to have a bad couple of weeks.

To sum up the article: the Trump campaign got rid of a bunch of staffers in critical states like Ohio and Florida*; their original data guy is gone; and embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is a foul-mouthed troll who has made a lot of people quit the campaign in disgust.  Which last is, honestly, probably one of the reasons why people talked to Politico in the first place.  Lewandowski’s inability to keep his hands to himself materially contributed to Trump’s recent Bad Time; and there are always people who wish to supplant the man who gets to whisper in his master’s ear.

Annnnd that’s why the campaign is going to be in trouble, really.  It’s not so much that Trump has had a bad couple of weeks. All campaigns do – and then they can have good weeks, too. In Trump’s case, for example: he’s supposed to do extremely well in New York in a couple of weeks, so that should superficially help him.  But talking to the media off the record is apparently an extraordinarily addictive experience for people in political campaigns; Team Trump’s been actively engaged in efforst to suppress that habit for a while now, but apparently it’s easier to make people keep their mouths shut when you’re winning than it is when you’re losing. Worse, once your people get a taste for spilling the beans, they’ll keep doing it… and they’ll tell the media the stuff that the campaign would rather not get out**.

This problem is, by the way, normal for campaigns. It’s even treatable… if you know how. If you don’t, well, things can get sticky.

Moe Lane

*Hey, funny story! Did you know that the Florida Republican party is actually in the process of choosing the actual Congressional District delegates (who are admittedly bound to the first three ballots)? Yeah, I think maybe one CD has been chosen already; the rest are still to be done. You think that Donald Trump knows this? …Because I bet you Ted Cruz does!

**Seriously: having and enjoying access is addictive. If you’re not careful, it can take over your brain.