#EndorseThis: Lewandowsi Seeks To Portray Trump As Brexit Expert — Hilariously
Former Trump campaign manager, and current paid CNN contributor, Corey Lewandowski appeared on CNN’s New Day yesterday in order to defend the Republican candidate’s seemingly tactless Brexit comments at his Scottish golf course last week. But the program got heated as he clashed with former New York City Council speaker and Clinton surrogate Christine Quinn, who pushed back on his description of Trump as an astute analyst of British politics and economics.
Lewandowski’s defense ignored Trump’s actual mentions of his own golf course and focused on the economics of exchange rates — standard material for most introductory macroeconomics students.
“Look, let’s look at this from the U.S. perspective: if you want to go and travel overseas, just from a monetary perspective, now’s the right time to do that, because what you’re getting is more for your dollar going over there. And what we’re talking about potentially, long-term, is parity: dollar for pound, one to one. That could happen. If that’s the case, that’s good for the U.S., if you want to make investment overseas.”
Quinn’s reaction during Lewandowski’s statement predicted her rebuttal:
“Donald Trump is not running to be travel agent of the world. He’s running to be president of the United States. And what he actually said wasn’t a commentary on international markets. It was when the pound goes down, more people will come to my golf course. That’s specifically what he said. And I think what it speaks to is that Donald Trump’s main concern isn’t the international markets, isn’t the impact that Brexit will have on hard-working Americans’ 401Ks. It’s himself, how can he make more money, how can he put more money in his bank account.”
This angle — that Trump is a selfish, heartless businessman who only looks out for himself — may sound familiar, since it echoes Elizabeth Warren’s speech at the Massachusetts senator’s first campaign appearance with Hillary Clinton yesterday.
Lewandowski, who was fired from the campaign on June 20, is a recent addition to CNN’s lineup of analysts and surrogates. Early reports suggest that his hiring provoked a possible “near internal revolt” at the news network from staff members concerned with his previously fraught relations with the press, but the Washington Post‘s Paul Farhi followed up and found that many others in the newsrooms agreed that Lewandowski would help grow the networks election-year audience.
However, Lewandowski, along with most other Trump staffers, signed a legally-binding nondisclosure agreement that prevents him from discussing information or from making disparaging comments about the candidate, his family, and his businesses. It is unlikely he will be criticizing or giving insider information on the campaign on air anytime soon.
Image source: YouTube/Raw Story
