Donald Trump is doing a complete 180 on political data operations — using tech specialists who worked for two primary rivals and a firm with a track record with the Never-Trump movement to help make the pivot,
Politico reports.
According to Politico, which cites unnamed sources, the campaign's
recent online fundraising surge was guided by the Prosper Group, an Indianapolis-based digital firm that worked for Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio during their primary runs.
And Revv, a company that did work for the #NeverTrump movement, has been brought on to process the cash, Politico reports.
In addition, the campaign’s top data officials met last week in San Antonio with officials from the Republican National Committee and Cambridge Analytica — which worked for Cruz — to talk about targeting voters with "micro-messages," Politico reports.
A hiring decision hasn't been made. But according to Politico, Trump campaign’s new digital director, Brad Parscale, wanted to sign a deal and campaign chairman Paul Manafort did not.
It's a sharp change in strategy for Trump, who has relied on his personal appeal and rallies —
and declared to the Associated Press that sophisticated data operations are "overrated."
Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has already built a data, digital and analytics team — and even if Trump’s campaign were to bring on the top conservative data firms, it might be too little, too late to catch up, Politico reports.
"I don’t see anybody around his immediate circle that has any knowledge, understanding or background in data," one source tells the outlet. "I don’t think it’s a head fake. I don’t think he understands it. I don’t think Manafort understands it."
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