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Tag: kellyanne conway
Fox Shows Herald A 'Kinder, Gentler' Trump, But That Guy Never Shows Up

Fox Shows Herald A 'Kinder, Gentler' Trump, But That Guy Never Shows Up

As Donald Trump prepared to speak following his unexpectedly narrow victory over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Trump loyalists Kellyanne Conway and Sean Hannity predicted a courteous and focused performance from the former president.

“I think Trump tonight will continue to be very gracious,” Conway said. The Fox News host responded, “I think you're right, I think he will do that tonight,” adding that Trump’s recent “tone” shows he's “been dialed in in a way that I've not seen, honestly, since 2020.”

That kinder, more deliberate Trump did not appear on stage. Instead, the likely Republican presidential nominee raged throughout his speech. He castigated Haley as “delusional,” criticized her “fancy dress that probably wasn’t so fancy,” suggested that she would be “under investigation” if she won the nomination due to things “she doesn’t want to talk about,” and falsely claimed that he won New Hampshire in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

After the speech ended, a deflated Hannity said that while Trump's ire with Haley was “understandable,” he wished Trump had instead focused on President Joe Biden.

There’s a long tradition of political journalists declaring that a new tone from Trump is either imminent or has finally arrived, only for the former president to double down on his typically unhinged behavior and make those people look ridiculous. The likes of Hannity, Conway, and several others at Fox who offered similarly rose-colored views of Trump over the last few days seem to be going further than that — they are desperately trying to will such a pivot into existence.

Martha MacCallum, a Fox anchor who the network props up as one of its “straight news” types in spite of her obvious right-wing views, applauded Trump’s “very kind of different, earnest demeanor” in a recent Fox town hall. “I think that his tone was very different,” she told TheWrap in an interview. “He did not talk about a rigged or stolen election at all during the entire hour. I don’t know that you could go back and find it an hour when he hasn’t brought it up since all of that happened back in 2020. I think he wants to broaden his appeal and we’ll see if it works.”

Fox contributor Newt Gingrich also argued that Trump had adopted a new, less polarizing tone. “If you watch his tone, he has very correctly begun to move toward a unifying [message], bring us together, solve problems,” he told Hannity on Monday. “So I am encouraged that this could be a remarkable general election.”

A similar discussion broke out on Fox Business' Varney & Co. after National Review editor Deroy Murdock praised Trump’s “new tone” as “delightful, warm — kind of a kinder, gentler Donald J. Trump.”

“You see that too?” an elated Stuart Varney replied. “It is a different tone, and it started with Fox's town hall.”

“He just seems calmer, less bombast, less name-calling, that sort of stuff,” Murdock said. “And if he keeps that up, that will calm people down. A lot of people just want to see that, and they’re happy to go along with him otherwise.”

Murdock’s comments get to the heart of the matter. Right-wing figures at Fox and elsewhere will inevitably back Trump for financial and ideological reasons. They’re undeterred by the numerous crimes the former president allegedly committed, his naked corruption and authoritarianism, or his attempts to overthrow the 2020 election and end American democracy. But it would be more pleasant for them to rally behind Trump if they didn’t have to alternatively defend or ignore his deranged public statements.

Unfortunately for Hannity and company, that behavior is the core of who Trump is. Defending the indefensible is the life they’ve chosen in exchange for maintaining their audiences and securing a policy agenda of tax cuts for rich people and bans on abortion, and there’s no way around it.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Kellyanne Conway

Whining Kellyanne Conway Confirms Secret Payments To Ginni Thomas

Kellyanne Conway may have inadvertently confirmed the payments made to Ginni Thomas, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The latest development stems from a report published by The Washington Post on Thursday, May 4, which included details about additional financial contributions that were paid to the justice and his wife.

However, Republican legal activist Leonardo Leo reportedly instructed Conway to make "no mention of Ginni."

According to Mediaite, Conway said:

"This is 2012, according to The Washington Post. Leonard, Leo's quote in that article, I think it's an important quote. He says, I've known the Thomases. They've been my friends since 1990, and I’m very mindful of how vicious and gossipy people can be. So I always try to protect their privacy and their safety. Viciousness from ten years ago, 11 years ago, has turned into violence now, where people are outside of Supreme Court justices' homes trying to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh while his wife and daughters are sleeping in that home. So these people will stop at nothing.

"They want Clarence Thomas to resign. So Joe Biden, of all people, can replace him with one of his own in this case. Ginni Thomas was one of my contractors and she's..She had worked with the Heritage Foundation. She was part of the grassroots — is part of the grassroots. She had worked in the Reagan administration. This is a serious person who for years had worked in public policy and at the polling company. We did public opinion research and data analytics. We had no business before the court."

Conway also made remarks about the Post as she insisted the news outlet had been searching for her.

"I want to look them in the eye and tell them I'm aware that you contacted a lot of my former employees and you, as you suggested to one of them, that you go to her home and look at her old emails," she said. "That is so beyond the pale, but that's who they are.'

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Danziger Draws

Danziger Draws

Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons, a novel and a memoir. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.

Kellyanne Touted RNC's 'Great Job' -- Without Disclosing Huge Sum It Paid Her

Kellyanne Touted RNC's 'Great Job' -- Without Disclosing Huge Sum It Paid Her

Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway repeatedly went out of her way to praise the efforts of the Republican National Committee around the midterm elections, saying the organization did a “great job” and touting its voter contact program. Neither Fox nor Conway disclosed that the RNC has paid Conway’s firm more than $800,000 since last year.

The lack of disclosure about Conway’s financial ties goes against the ethics-challenged network’s purported policy. A Fox News spokesperson told the Washington Post in 2019 regarding work Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer did with the RNC that “Fox News requires contributors to disclose ties related to any topic he or she discusses on the air in which the contributor may have a financial interest.” The spokesperson added that such a rule would apply when talking about “the RNC on air.”

Conway is a Republican strategist who is best-known for her lie-filled tenure as senior counselor to former President Donald Trump. Fox News hired her on October 3. She is the founder of KAConsulting LLC, “which provides clients advice, polling, and media training.”

The RNC has paid KAConsulting $829,969.38 since 2021 for a variety of expenses. The RNC’s most recent payment was on November 4 for “political strategy services.” The organization recently announced that Conway would serve on a Republican Party Advisory Council “to inform the Republican Party’s 2024 vision and beyond.”

The RNC has faced criticism from fellow Republicans after the GOP’s disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections. Blame has also been directed at RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who presided over the party’s losses in 2020 as well.

Conway has used her Fox News platform to praise the RNC and play defense for McDaniel.

Conway appeared on the November 6 edition of Fox News Sunday, where she went out of her way to praise the RNC’s work. She stated: “I think that the Democrats have enraged people. That's their strategy. Republicans have engaged people. They've had 100 million voter contacts, 1 million volunteers and they've opened 38 community centers through the RNC where you can go into your community and find out what the difference between a Republican and Democrats is. I'd rather engage than enrage people. I think enraging is a failed strategy.”

The next day, she appeared on Sean Hannity’s program, where she again went out of her way to praise the RNC:

KELLYANNE CONWAY: It depends obviously on turnout. But it also depends on motivation and what I call investing in the non-sexy part of politics. OK? Everybody sees the ads, they see the rallies, the campaign, the candidate direct appeals, the TV interviews. What they don't see is who’s investing in data and digital. How many volunteers you have, how many voter contacts have you made. I don't really know what the DNC is doing, but the RNC has done a great job on this, as have all the committees. They've raised over $300 million and spent it. They have over 100 million voter contacts. Think about that. You're calling voters and you're the party talking about inflation, crime, education, immigration, border security, national security, financial security, physical security in your communities. They have over one million volunteers. And you see that all of these candidates have been very well resourced.

Following the midterms, Conway appeared on the November 14 edition of The Ingraham Angle and defended the RNC’s efforts from criticism, saying that Lee Zeldin should instead run for Senate instead of challenging McDaniel. (Zeldin recently announced he would not run for RNC chair.)

LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): And by the way they want him to be RNC chief, there's a big push to get Zeldin to be head of the RNC.

CHARLES HURT (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): There has to be a future for people like Lee Zeldin, because he has demonstrated that he gets the message and he gets the mechanics. He does both.

INGRAHAM: Kellyanne you were shaking your head "no."

KELLYANNE CONWAY: I think the 168 [RNC membership] is in charge of electing them. Ronna McDaniel said she'll run again, they invested — I mean, they moved over $303 million to these candidates at the end, had 100 million voter contacts, 1 million volunteers, but I think Lee Zeldin.

INGRAHAM: But I mean none of that matters, does it, if we don't get the results we want.

CONWAY: I think it mattered.

INGRAHAM: I mean, I like Ronna McDaniel.

CONWAY: But hold on. Lee Zeldin is great. He should go take out Kirsten Gillibrand, who's one of the most unremarkable senators and one of the most unremarkable Dartmouth graduates of all time. But very quickly, I think that we didn't get some of the results we wanted because people believe the sugar high of these phony polls, and they were Republican leaning. Everybody went and cherry picked the polls they liked.

In none of those appearances did Conway or Fox News disclose that she has been paid by the RNC.

Correction (12/14):This piece originally stated that Conway encouraged Lee Zeldin to run for New York governor. In fact, she suggested he should run for Senate.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.