steve benen became donald trump's campaign director. kellyanne conway who headed the merced. political action committee for ted cruz became number 2. david bossie a mercer family stalwart became number 3. robert mercer has assembled team was in place. bannon basi and conaway would from this point forward steer the republican candidate strategy. when the merc versus decide to support a candidate they expect the candidates to be responsive to their needs both in terms of how the candidate runs their campaign it also also after if the kid is successful and there are and they are elected as an office holder it's reasonable to presume that the mercers expect that the office holder will be responsive to the mercer's needs needs as well and their policy preferences. robert mercer his plan was proving to be successful. but a mistake was made that made steve bannon's role controversial. here's what was discovered by looking at donald trump's official campaign books each of these lines corresponds to an expense during his 5 month tenure there was no trace of payments for steve benen. b