@mattizcoop
JUNE MARKS THE beginning of summer, but it hasn’t been a vacation for Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican nominee has seen his negative poll numbers rise higher than one of his skyscrapers: Seventy percent of Americans have a dismal view of the mogul, according to the ABC News/Washington Post poll that appeared in mid-June. Trump needs to be generating enthusiasm among Republicans, especially the elected officials he’ll have to lean on as surrogates and allies come autumn.
He’s trying to right the ship. On June 20, the mogul parted ways with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. The little-known New Hampshire operative, notorious internally for his temper and running afoul of other Trump officials, was probably most recognizable to the public for his altercation with a young reporter that led to battery charges that were later dropped. After Lewandowski’s departure was announced coldly—he was said to be “no longer working” for the campaign—a Trump adviser tweeted, “Ding dong the witch is dead.” It’s unlikely that Lewandowski’s departure will end Trump’s standoff with GOP leaders. After the Orlando, Florida, massacre, an exasperated Trump told Republican leaders to “be quiet” and that he could win “alone.”