Donald Trump couldn’t have found a better campaign manager for his circus than Corey Lewandowski, but he might now be a liability. On Tuesday, Lewandowski was charged with battery in Jupiter, Florida, in relation to an incident at a rally earlier this month. Trump is standing by his man, but the longer Lewandowski is forced into the spotlight, the worse it is for the Trump campaign.
Lewandowski has repeatedly upheld his innocence and is confident that he will be exonerated of the charges. At one point, Lewandowski went as far as calling his accuser, Michelle Fields, “delusional” and “an attention seeker.” But since then, footage from the incident has appeared, clearly showing Lewandowski putting his hands on Fields and aggressively pulling her away.
This all wouldn’t be a huge deal if the Trump campaign would’ve owned up and apologized. The argument could be made that Fields was too aggressive in attempting to grab the candidate, and Lewandowski simply got carried away. But this wouldn’t fit with the Trump campaign vision — never apologize, never surrender.
But for the Trump campaign, it might end up being a lot easier to defend an individual candidate that occasionally steps over the line than a campaign staffed with thugs. This might seem like quite a leap in rhetoric, but Lewandowski’s recent troubles brings back a history of confrontational, aggressive and questionable behavior in his political career. Incidents like these allow the Cruz, Kasich and democratic campaigns to perpetuate a narrative that goes beyond “Trump the man” to “Trump the campaign.”
The longer Trump and Lewandowski vehemently defend Lewandowski’s innocence, the longer this story will stay in the news cycle. With the emergence of video evidence, the Trump campaign is now fighting an uphill battle in general public opinion — a battle they might not win. Trump can’t afford to be painted as a godless New Yorker who surrounds himself with violent thugs, but if he sticks with Lewandowski, he might not be able to avoid it.