What they’re asking for, in increasingly desperate terms, is for Trump to rebrand himself as a potential president rather than the populist agitator he’s been during the primary season. The problem is, there’s no reason to believe that Trump thinks there’s anything wrong with his brand. Far from it; it’s made him rich (although just how rich is unclear) and it’s brought him to the brink of a presidential nomination via a path no one has taken before. He’s banking his campaign on the premise that voters like what they see and hear. Replacing a campaign manager is one thing; but a ”rebranding” attempt that included a confession of error might itself undermine Trump’s own sense of his brand, which includes something pretty close to invincibility.
Unless, of course, Ivanka convinces him otherwise. The Trump family brand in jeopardy? Perish the thought! Dumping Lewandowski—whose capacity to make enemies among the press and the Trump campaign has proven to be of Olympic-grade levels—may be the first sign of a series of “resets” to begin dealing with the historically low levels of Trump’s popularity, even as Clinton and her allies work to drive them even lower.
So let the Trump rebranding begin. Unfortunately, that hope brings to mind the wistful comment of a friend’s mother, who said at the end of a long, unhappy marriage: “We could have had a wonderful life—if only your father had been a completely different person.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member