The Republican National Convention is less than two weeks away, and barring a last minute Hail Mary by the "Never Trump" movement, Donald Trump will accept the party's nomination for president. While Trump has been able to pull out all the stops and become the last man standing in the GOP primary, his campaign continues to struggle to stay on the same page.
Trump troubles
On the day Trump decided to run for president, he made headlines during just campaign announcement when he referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murders." Since that time, Trump has been unable to avoid the constant cloud of controversy hovering over his head, from proposing a ban on Muslim immigration, to suggesting"some form of punishment" for women who have an abortion, to mocking the disabled.
Staff members in the campaign have continued to be at odds with each other, with a rotating cast of characters, highlighted by the removal of long time campaign manager, Corey Lewandowsi last month. According to a report by Mediaite on July 8, the Trump campaign is attempting to pull their candidate from several top TV interviews and cable news shows as the election moves forward.
Report: Trump Cutting Back on TV Interviews in Effort to Avoid ‘Mistakes’ and ‘Minor Controversies' https://t.co/SR8eVaSLZT
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) July 8, 2016
Citing Fox News' Howard Kurtz, Mediaite notes that members of the Trump campaign are reportedly denying interview requests in an attempt to limit frequent mistakes that Trump has had a habit of making on the campaign trail.
The report also notes that the campaign has not informed Trump of their actions, in a possible "attempt to restrain Trump from being Trump." "Thestaff is weeding out many requests without consulting him," the sources confirmed to Kurtz.
The orders were apparently given by recent campaign highers Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, after Trump was critical of the way CNN and MSNBC handled their reporting of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, as well as the campaign's use of a "Star of David" in a recent tweet attack.
Moving forward
Even with internal issues plaguing his campaign, Trump has been able to cut into Clinton's general election lead. According to the latest Real Clear Politics rolling average, Clinton now leads the former host of "The Apprentice" by less than five points, 44.9 percent to 40.3 percent.
