Kellyanne must not see herself coming back to Trump World, at least not this version with this current leader. Trump handed out endorsements across the country almost entirely dependent upon an unambiguous agreement that 2020 was illegitimate and Trump was the real winner., or what Trump calls “loyalty,” the quality Trump prizes above competency. In so doing, Trump is trying to bind an increasing percentage of elected GOP officials under his control. Kellyanne knows this and, despite not being an elected official, wrote that Trump lost, fair and square, even going on to say they could’ve and should’ve won.
According to Politico:
One of Donald Trump’s most steadfast aides acknowledges in a new book that the president lost the 2020 election and says he was ill-advised by campaign staff and the election deniers who surrounded him.
“Despite the mountains of money Trump had raised, his team simply failed to get the job done. A job that was doable and had a clear path, if followed,” Kellyanne Conway writes in her memoir, “Here’s the Deal.”
“Rather than accepting responsibility for the loss, they played along and lent full-throated encouragement (privately, not on TV) when Trump kept insisting he won.” Conway’s admission of the ex-president’s electoral defeat is particularly notable, even if it amounts to stating out loud a well-established fact.
It is notable, and it isn’t meaningless. We just can’t know how much weight it will carry. It could matter. Kellyanne is a hack, she’s the political guru, and her admission runs counter to almost all Republicans in Congress who either dodge questions on the election or say they believe it was illegitimate. The more voices that counter the Trump line, the better.
But she will be dead to everything MAGA is trying to do going forward and perhaps even some of the more moderate Republicans.
This site and this writer have followed the GOP’s plans for 2024 and much of the 2024 “strategy” depends upon the assumption among GOP voters and officials at the state level that the Democrats only win the presidency by stealing elections, and thus, if Joe Biden wins in 2024, it is rock solid proof that he stole it again. Otherwise, he would have lost. The Republicans want the country to lose faith in its ability to “vote” for president.
It is not a secret that many Republicans are desperate to test the theory that state legislatures can override the vote and pick their own Electoral College electors. Article II of the Federal Constitution says it is up to the state legislature to determine the process for picking the Electoral College voters. The Federal Constitution doesn’t even expressly require a state to hold an election for president, though past precedent will weigh heavily against the express terms. The MAGAs want less democracy and would love to be able to use those GOP state majorities in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, among others, and those legislatures will get to the bottom of all that fraud if Joe Biden wins again. But people on the Right have to believe it is all rigged for it to be maximally compelling.
So any chink in the armor, any “big name” that disavows the Rigged assumption and decides to live in the factual world threatens some of the furious MAGA “push” behind these theories.
Expect an apoplectic and juvenile response from Mar-a-Lago containing a lot of personal insults thrown Kellyanne Conway’s way later today. It will work to the Democrats’ benefit. Trump’s anger will do nothing but highlight Conway’s admission.
Jason Miciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, while also studying scientific philosophy, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.
