The Troll-in-Chief: Brad Parscale, “Donald Trump’s Michael Bay”

September 11, 2019 7:43 AM

“‘How the heck did you get from East Topeka, Kansas, 43 years old, to become the right-hand man to the Trump family?’ That’s a truly remarkable tale, although much, as it turns out, is not quite as Parscale describes it.”
posted by sallybrown (6 comments total)

As opposed to "Michael Bay's Donald Trump", which is the terrible movie we're all suffering through right now.

Parscale certainly does have his boss's DGAF attitude toward facts and predilection for grifting.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:47 AM on September 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is an excellent profile and work of investigative journalism

“If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you think he’s a 21st-century Steve Jobs,” says a Republican consultant who knows Parscale. “He’s not an asshole. He’s kind of a huckster. But he’s smart enough to realize he’s a huckster.”

I always assume these unknown political strategists are geniuses. This whole article is about how Parscale is just a grifter. But I think it'd be a mistake to underestimate him; the whole article also about how he's risen to the challenge and is building an effective organization.
posted by Nelson at 9:35 AM on September 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't call him a grifter (which to me tends to imply that the person is lying about even being able to actually do the thing) so much as a hustler (which I guess I interpret more as "can definitely do the thing pretty effectively, but in a way that is unencumbered by what most people would consider ethics or honesty") who appears to come from a family of hustlers.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:45 AM on September 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is an excellent profile and work of investigative journalism

It just keeps going, and going, and going... Elkind and Burke put a lot of effort into this.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

To me his greatest value was his role as a diplomat between the Trump people and the RNC in 2016, which it’s not clear will continue because of the current monkey business he’s engaging in trying to hide Trump polling from lower-tier candidates.
posted by sallybrown at 9:57 AM on September 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

it's so strange to me this guy was, just a few years ago, a moderately well known dude in the expressionengine CMS community who made a bunch of addons and what not for the CMS. i remember after one of the 2016 debates trump's campaign site went down and displayed the default expressionengine offline template. and weirdly, obama used expressionengine for at least his 2008 transition site and possibly more. that got a lot of people onboard when i was advocating its use for my employer at the time. i doubt it would get the same mileage now.

the piece is great. wonderful journalism. propublica is the best.
posted by iboxifoo at 10:00 AM on September 12, 2019 [1 favorite]