It Is Stone Versus “Loserdowski.” Civil War Breaks Out In Trump Campaign Over Veep Search

I’ve posted in the past on the number of ways Donald Trump’s management style epitomizes the weakest sort of executive (here, in particular, and more expansively here.) Rather than make decisions and possibly estrange some faction of his fawning coterie, Trump plays the factions off against one another and then steps in to act as peacemaker. This ensures the executive remains personally popular but it creates divisions in an organization which keep it under siege from within.

Last week, the Washinton Post’s Robert Costa, who, in my opinion, is a very solid political reporter, wrote about the search for someone sufficiently debased to serve as Donald Trump’s vice president:

Political adviser Beth Myers headed up the process for Mitt Romney. Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse managed the selection for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Now, Corey Lewandowski will have that responsibility for Donald Trump.

Lewandowski, Trump’s traveling confidant and campaign manager, will be in charge of the team that will survey and vet potential vice-presidential candidates for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, two top Republicans said.

The two Republicans familiar with Lewandowski’s responsibilities spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss their private conversations with the Trump campaign, which is planning to ramp up the vice-presidential search in the coming weeks.

Lewandowski formally took charge of the hunt for a running mate last week and has since been described inside and outside of the campaign as the point person for all related questions and meetings, the Republicans said.

This story drew a sharp reaction from Donald Trump adviser, thug, and henchman, Roger Stone:

Discredited “reporter” @costareports knows his story on Loserdowski heading VP search is FALSE- retract NOW!

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) May 15, 2016

.@costareports needs to resign or be fired for his false reporting. Chat with his editor this week

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) May 15, 2016

The bad blood between Stone, whom Lewandowski pushed out of the Trump campaign (consider that for a moment, someone with so little political weight that Lewandowski can use his girl-pushing muscles to win), has been brewing. One has to assume Stone was the prime mover in bringing alleged Russian Mob fixer, Paul Manafort, into the campaign and attempting to clip Lewandowski’s, ummm, influence. Lewandowski, for his part, has fought back and successfully controlled Manafort’s effort to be the “face” of the campaign and has labeled Stone’s fundraising efforts as a scam.

When combined with the untoward comments Ben Carson made on the VP selection (here | here) to insinuate himself into the news cycle by asserting his relevance, it calls into question whether anyone at all is actually searching for a sacrificial VP… or if everyone is.

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