Manafort Blows Off Criticism Of Trump's Campaign Blunders
When Paul Manafort joined Trump's motley crew of campaign staffers in late March of this year, many saw him lending much-needed structure and professionalism to this candidate. Manafort, the son of a three-term New Britain, Connecticut mayor, boasts a hefty résumé as a consultant to or lobbyist for controversial foreign leaders and oligarchs with unsavory reputations.
Mr. Manafort knows exactly what has made his client popular, the same attribute that troubles the Republican establishment. Manafort
says the problem isn't that Trump goes "off script. First of all, the script is his, so he can't go off-script," he says. "Secondly, what he's going off of is what the conventional pundits want him to do. But if the conventional pundits had been followed, he wouldn't be the nominee of the party. So there's no reason to start listening to them now."
Manafort followed Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan on This Week, where he had to defend the nominee, once again.
RYAN: I do think, hope, and believe, that he's going to improve the tenor of the campaign, the tone of the campaign, the kind of campaign that he's going to run.