Trump shakes up troubled campaign

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reshuffled his campaign staff for the second time in as many months as his bid for the White House continues to sputter.

Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, the parent company of the stridently conservative Breitbart news website, has been named the campaign’s chief executive officer, and pollster Kellyanne Conway was promoted to campaign manager.

"I've known both of them for a long time," Trump said. "They're terrific people, they're winners, they're champs, and we need to win it."

The campaign insisted the new hires represented reinforcements for a final push, with just over 80 days left until Americans choose their next president.

Conway called the moves "an expansion at a critical time in the homestretch."

Critics said it's the latest shake-up for a flailing campaign, and with Manafort, Bannnon and Conway each holding comparable titles, it remains unclear who is running the campaign.

More senior hires are also expected in the coming days.

Trump's impromptu speeches were effective in attracting a relatively narrow slice of the electorate during the primary campaign when there were as many as 16 candidates, but that format has failed badly during the general election when a candidate generally needs to broaden his appeal to a wider audience.

But Trump remains defiant.

"You know, I am who I am," he told a local Wisconsin television station Tuesday. "It's me. I don't want to change. Everyone talks about, 'Oh, well you're going to pivot, you're going to.' I don't want to pivot. ... If you start pivoting, you're not being honest with people."

Trump seeks black vote

Trump issued a call to African-Americans to vote for him, but did so from an overwhelmingly white suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While Milwaukee is 40 percent black, Trump traveled to West Bend, Wisconsin, which is 95 percent white to issue his appeal to black voters.

"A vote for [Clinton] is a vote for another generation of poverty, high crime and lost opportunities," Trump said. "Crime and violence is an attack on the poor and it will never be accepted in a Trump administration."

A presidential flip-flop

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has done an about-face. Just months after comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Nieto said Tuesday he would meet with Trump if he became president.

"Yes, I would meet with him," Nieto said during a TV interview. "I have never met him. I can't agree with some of the things he has said, but I will be absolutely respectful and will seek to work with whoever becomes the next president of the United States."

Trump's pledge to build a Mexican-funded wall along the US-Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs sparked outrage in Mexico.

bik/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP)