President Donald Trump will announce his 2020 bid for re-election, the Drudge Report reported Tuesday morning.
The news aggregator also announced that Trump had tapped longtime digital media strategist Brad Parscale as his campaign manager.
“Just one year into his presidency, Trump will stun the political world by announcing he is running for re-election in 2020. Digital guru Brad Parscale will be named campaign manager, DRUDGE REPORT has learned,” Drudge blared in an all red headline at the top of his website.
Former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg told TheWrap that Drudge was tipped off by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“Jared is his source,” said Nunberg. “Drudge is Jared’s fairy godfather. Drudge loves Jared.”
Drudge now:
"Just one year into his presidency, Trump will stun the political world by announcing he is running for re-election in 2020. Digital guru Brad Parscale will be named campaign manager, DRUDGE REPORT has learned" pic.twitter.com/zOgbiw5rbn
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 27, 2018
Parscale joined the Trump Organization in 2011 as a digital media strategist. His San Antonio-based firm, Giles-Parscale, was hired to design the website for Trump’s exploratory efforts for the 2016 presidential campaign.
By June 2016, Parscale was named digital media director of the entire campaign. Reps for the Trump and Parscale did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
“Under no circumstance does any president want to appear to be a lame duck after the first year of their term,” Trump advisor Roger Stone told TheWrap. “The president’s announcement is shrewd.”
Stone added that it comes as no great surprise since President Trump formally filed his 202o reelection papers with Federal Elections Commission on the day of his inauguration last year.
If history is any guide, Parscale will inherit one of the most volatile jobs in American politics. During Donald Trump’s unlikely road to the White House in 2016, he cycled through three campaign managers, Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, and Steve Bannon.