Trump’s candidacy is in motion, but his campaign is a work in progress

Though former President Donald Trump has talked of a third run for the White House since before he completed his term, the rollout of his actual candidacy — as the Republican Party grapples with the fallout from midterm losses — has been surprisingly slapdash. Despite hosting about 500 people at his Mar-a-Lago home for his kickoff, the campaign did not take the opportunity to also hold a fundraiser with them.

And, behind the scenes, aides have been wrestling with Trump’s impulse for airing grievances, particularly over the 2020 election, in hopes of keeping him focused on the future.

Advisers say that Trump is determined to recapture the feel of his 2016 campaign, when he ran as an insurgent against the political establishment and relied on a small core group of aides. But he does not fit the profile of an outsider: He is a former president and the leader of his party. His 2016 campaign, while ultimately successful, was riven by infighting for months. And while the small group of aides and advisers involved in Trump’s nascent campaign reflects a desire to stay lean, it also reflects how many former aides Trump has come to disdain — and, in some cases, vice versa.

“It’s always a little bit chaotic,” said Bryan Lanza, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. Yet, he added, “I tend to believe that’s the way the president wants it, so why go against the grain?”

The open and overlapping investigations into Trump have also chilled the desire of many political operatives to associate too closely with the former president, lest they face possible legal jeopardy themselves, a number of his former aides said — even though Trump pressed for an early announcement in part out of the belief that it could provide something of a shield against indictment.

Trump’s communications adviser, Boris Epshteyn, who has established himself as an in-house counsel on some of the investigations Trump is facing, is likely to take a role as a senior adviser in the campaign, according to three people briefed on the matter.

At the same time, some former aides who attended the Mar-a-Lago announcement expressed interest in helping the new campaign but said they had not been asked. Major roles that have not been announced as filled include political director, communications director, lead pollster and data chief.

In his two previous campaigns, Trump went through a string of campaign managers. A decision was made not to have a formal campaign manager this time. Instead, two veteran political strategists will effectively split the duties of one: Susie Wiles, who has functioned as Trump’s top political adviser for two years, and Chris LaCivita, a former political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and adviser to numerous candidates, who has resigned as a partner at FP1 Strategies to join the Trump campaign, two people briefed on the matter said.

Another veteran adviser, pollster Tony Fabrizio, will work for the super PAC supporting Trump rather than directly advising him or his campaign.

Both Wiles and LaCivita are seasoned operatives with an understanding of the political landscape and the mechanics of campaigns. But it remains to be seen how closely their advice will be heeded. Trump often turns to informal advisers for affirmation of his own ideas and impulses.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a 100-person inner circle or whether it’s a five-person inner circle,” Lanza said. “He listens to everybody’s opinions, suggestions, recommendations — and then he does whatever the hell he wants. And by the way, he’s batting .500. That’s not bad. It gets you into the hall of fame.”

To be sure, Trump’s campaign start occurred unusually early for a presidential run, driven by both a belief that his being a candidate could shield him from criminal exposure — since he could denounce any prosecution as politically motivated — and the desire to blunt growing momentum behind Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

Jason Miller, chief executive of the conservative-oriented social-media firm Gettr, who helped arrange for Tuesday night’s announcement, dismissed questions about the incipient campaign team. “This week is about President Trump’s announcement, his message and his vision for our country,” Miller said. “The inside-baseball campaign details, which only the Washington insiders care about, can follow later.”

Among those making clear that they will not return for another White House run were Ivanka Trump, Trump’s daughter, and her husband, Jared Kushner. Ivanka Trump issued a statement saying she did not plan to be involved in politics: “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”

It is unclear whether any of the major donors who backed Trump previously will return. Already, the hedge fund executives Stephen Schwarzman and Ken Griffin have said they will not support Trump in 2024. And other donors have privately complained that they had yet to receive any outreach from Trump’s team.

Trump has had an expansive small-dollar fundraising operation, and that is expected to make up the bulk of his campaign money. But while Trump had banked $100 million before his announcement across multiple political accounts, none of those funds are permitted to be used to finance his candidacy directly. So his aides raced to come up with workarounds.

The biggest account, Save America PAC, had nearly $70 million, a chunk of which is said to have been transferred to an aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., that is being overseen by Trump’s former spokesperson Taylor Budowich.

But the Save America PAC technically owns Trump’s vaunted database of supporter names, phone numbers and email addresses. To legally access that data, the campaign is raising money through another committee that is expected to share its proceeds with both the campaign and the Save America PAC.

Under federal law, Trump cannot use his new presidential campaign committee for his personal benefit. But restrictions are less clear for the Save America PAC, which paid more than $10 million in legal fees in 2021 and 2022, including some to Trump’s defense team related to the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago estate.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.