Donald Trump’s New Secret Weapon
How the Man Who Ran the 'Torturer’s Lobby' Is Securing the Billionaire’s Nomination
Perhaps one of the most unnerving political developments over these last few days has been the beginning of the reluctant acceptance of Donald Trump among the Republican establishment. Watching the likes of Senator Bob Corker on television praising his “foreign policy” and seeing influential House members like Bill Schuster endorse him is more than a little bit unsettling. It stands to reason that this would happen now that Trump is looking more and more like the winner, but considering just how unpopular Trump is among the political establishment, it’s more likely due to the hard work of his recently hired senior adviser, Paul Manafort.
According to this fascinating, must-read profile by Franklin Foer in Slate, Manafort “is among the most significant political operatives of the past 40 years, and one of the most effective. He has revolutionized lobbying several times over, though he self-consciously refrains from broadcasting his influence.” He’s the most important Republican campaign consultant and lobbyist the general public has never heard of.
Manafort was mentored by Bush family consiglieri James Baker and partnered with the notorious political operative Lee Atwater. He ran Republican campaigns and conventions for decades, including Reagan’s legendary “Morning in America” convention in 1984. Everyone assumed he was hired by Trump to perform the specialized task of suppressing a convention insurgency, which he performed on behalf of Gerald Ford in the 1976 convention. But this man is so much more than that.
He went on to run Reagan’s southern operation in 1980, remembered for its clever racist dogwhistle of opening the campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, famously known as the murder site of three civil rights workers 16 years before. After the campaign, Manafort and Roger Stone (along with another successful GOP operative Charlie Black) then opened their campaign consultant/lobbyist firm, perfecting the dubious business of electing politicians and then lobbying them on behalf of their corporate clients. Trump was one of them, using the firm to help him stave off the threat of Indian gaming. It was an ugly, racist campaign that culminated with Governor George Pataki fining Trump and Stone $250,000 and requiring a public apology.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/donald-trumps-new-secret-weapon-how-man-who-ran-torturers-lobby-securing-billionaires
