Kellyanne Conway, a former top adviser to Donald Trump, believes that the key to his victory in the 2024 election lies in focusing on his policy achievements rather than personal attacks on Kamala Harris.
Conway argued in an op-ed that Trump should lean into his record from his first term, presenting a clear contrast to Harris’s role in the current administration.
“Harris would prefer to keep this election about snark and sound bites. Trump can and should take the high road, leaving the gutter politics to her,” Conway wrote in the Daily Mail.
But sticking to policy would be a new strategy for Trump, who since Biden stepped down and endorsed Harris, has continually insulted Harris, dubbing her “comrade Kamala” and labeling her as a “radical left Marxist.”
The Harris ticket, meanwhile, has insulted Trump by calling him “weird” and by drawing attention to his criminal record.
Kellyanne Conway speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 17, 2024. Conway has said Donald Trump should take the “high road” against Kamala Harris.
J. Scott Applewhite/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In fact, since entering politics in 2015, Trump has frequently used nicknames, exaggerations and insults when talking about his political opponents and members of the media.
A core aspect of his political history has involved inflammatory remarks which could be considered gutter politics, including insulting the spouses of his political opponents, insulting the military service of veterans, and on multiple occasions mocking and insulting people for their disabilities, weight, appearance, and countries of origin.
Newsweek has contacted Conway via online form and the campaigns of Harris and Trump for comment.
Conway, who worked for Trump as Senior Counselor to the President from 2017 to 2020, acknowledged her former boss’s reputation as a “counterpuncher” but stressed that his “greatest advantage over Harris is policy performance, not personal peeves.”
In her view, Harris’ campaign relies on dodging substantive policy discussions in favor of “snark and sound bites.” To win, Conway advised Trump to take “the high road” and let Harris “slither out of accountability.”
“Trump has done the job before,” Conway wrote, listing the former president’s past accomplishments, such as energy independence, recalibrated trade deals, stronger border security, and a thriving economy. “Millions of Americans prefer Trump for the job because he has done the job before,” she stated, adding that Harris’ record pales in comparison.
Although Conway is correct that record numbers of undocumented migrants are entering the U.S. through the Mexico border, Trump’s claim about energy independence is only partially true: The U.S. continued to be a net exporter of energy for the first 11 months of Biden’s presidency.
Her claims about Trump’s favorable economic narrative overlook several of the Biden administration’s economic successes including job growth and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 reaching all-time highs.
Trump’s administration ended with the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a massive decrease in gross domestic product and huge job losses.
Conway was particularly critical of Harris, who she claims represents “four more years of the present chaos and crisis.” She dismissed the vice president as a continuation of the Biden administration’s policies, which Conway characterized as failures on key issues such as immigration, inflation, and foreign policy. “This is the Harris Administration. Feeling more pressure and less prosperous? She did that,” Conway wrote.
Pointing to Trump’s resilience, Conway described his recent political successes, including a boost in his poll numbers after the CNN debate against President Biden and the Republican National Convention.
She said Trump’s recovery after surviving the recent assassination attempt was a testament to his determination, stating, “His bloodstained face and fist assuring us that he will not back down—was real.”
Conway also took aim at the Democratic Party‘s decision to “shiv” President Biden in favor of Harris, calling the move “clinical and cynical.”
She argued that Harris is far less popular than Biden, adding: “The political castration of Biden in favor of his even more unpopular deputy may have generated half-a-billion dollars in donor cash, but it seems a stretch to believe that the dysfunctional Democrats… can do what an assassin’s bullet could not—stop Donald Trump.”
