Kellyanne Conway says shrugging off Trump 2024 campaign would be ‘foolish’
Cami Mondeaux
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Former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway warned both supporters and critics of Donald Trump not to shrug off the former president’s 2024 campaign, even as he faces a slew of criminal investigations and a crowded GOP primary field.
In a New York Times guest essay published on Friday, Conway laid out the arguments for and against Trump’s candidacy, noting that although Democrats are eager to write off his chances due to possible criminal charges, they must be careful to consider him a legitimate candidate. Meanwhile, Trump supporters must also be wary not to consider him a shoo-in, she wrote.
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“Shrugging off Mr. Trump’s 2024 candidacy or writing his political obituary is a fool’s errand — he endures persecution and eludes prosecution like no other public figure. That could change, of course, though that cat has nine lives,” the former White House counselor said. “At the same time, it would also be foolish to assume that Mr. Trump’s path to another presidency would be smooth and secure. This is not 2016, when he and his team had the hunger, swagger and scrappiness of an insurgent’s campaign and the ‘history be damned’ happy warrior resolve of an underestimated, understaffed, underresourced effort.”
Conway conceded that while Trump has an advantage pointing to certain successes during his presidency, he also has significant “political baggage.”
“For Mr. Trump to succeed, it means fewer insults and more insights; a campaign that centers on the future, not the past, and that channels the people’s grievances and not his own; and a reclamation of the forgotten Americans, who ushered him into the White House the first time and who are suffering economically under Mr. Biden,” she wrote.
The guest essay at times acts as an advice column targeted toward Trump, suggesting he focus more on his administration’s accomplishments during his first term rather than repeating his claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In fact, one of the highest-profile threats looming over Trump’s head is the slate of criminal investigations he is under related to his efforts to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden.
There are several criminal investigations into his attempts to overturn 2020’s presidential election results and his role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. It is unclear that the former president will be charged, but the Jan. 6 committee has issued four criminal referrals of Trump for his role in the riot.
The former president is also at the center of a handful of other investigations into the 2020 election, including one headed by the Department of Justice and another by a special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia.
Conway also warned that Trump’s 2024 campaign would prove more difficult than 2020 because he will no longer be alone on the debate stage. Although Trump is the only Republican so far to declare his candidacy, several others are also considering a bid — teasing that future announcements may not be far off.
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Widely considered the biggest challenge to Trump is Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Although DeSantis has not indicated whether he’ll seek higher office in 2024, he and Trump routinely alternate sitting at the top of polls, with DeSantis occasionally besting the former president — especially in head-to-head contests.
Other potential candidates include big names such as former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Conway served as Trump’s campaign manager in 2016 before becoming his senior counselor in the White House from 2017 to 2020. She is not involved with Trump’s 2024 campaign.