Donald Trump should take the ‘moral path’ to beat Kamala Harris – Kellyanne Conway

Kellyanne Conway, a former top adviser to Donald Trump, believes the key to his victory in the 2024 election is to focus on his policy achievements rather than personal attacks on Kamala Harris.

Conway argued in an opinion piece that Trump should build on his accomplishments from his first term, which provide a clear contrast to Harris’ role in the current administration.

“Harris would prefer this election to be all about sarcasm and sharp commentary. Trump can and should keep his cool and leave the gutter politics to her,” Conway wrote in the Daily Mail.

But sticking to his policies would be a new strategy for Trump, who has been constantly insulting Harris since Biden’s resignation and his support for her, calling her “Comrade Kamala” and branding her a “radical left-wing Marxist.”

Harris’ candidate, meanwhile, insulted Trump by calling him “weird” and pointing out his criminal record.

In fact, since entering politics in 2015, Trump has frequently used nicknames, exaggerations and insults when speaking about his political opponents and members of the media.

A central aspect of his political career has been inflammatory remarks that could be described as gutter politics. These include insults to the spouses of his political opponents, insults to the military service of veterans, and multiple times mocking and insulting people based on their disabilities, weight, appearance, and country of origin.

Newsweek asked Conway for comment via an online form as well as the Harris and Trump campaigns.

Conway, who served as senior presidential adviser to Trump from 2017 to 2020, acknowledged that her former boss had a reputation as a “counter-puncher,” but stressed that his “biggest advantage over Harris is political performance, not personal quirks.”

In her view, Harris’ campaign is based on avoiding substantive political discussions and instead relying on “caustic remarks and slogans.” In order to win, Conway advised Trump to take “the noblest path” and let Harris “slip out of responsibility.”

“Trump has done the job before,” Conway wrote, listing the former president’s past accomplishments, including 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 explained, adding that Harris’ record pales in comparison.

While Conway is correct that record numbers of undocumented migrants are entering the United States across the Mexican border, Trump’s claim of energy independence is only partially true: Even during the first eleven months of Biden’s presidency, the United States continued to be a net exporter of energy.

Their claims about Trump’s positive economic policies overlook several economic successes of the Biden administration, including job growth and historic highs for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.

Trump’s term in office ended with the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a massive decline in gross domestic product and enormous job losses.

Conway was particularly critical of Harris, who she said represents “four more years of the current chaos and crisis.” She dismissed the vice president as a continuation of the Biden administration’s policies, which Conway described as failures on key issues such as immigration, inflation and foreign policy. “This is the Harris administration. Feeling more pressured and less prosperous? That’s what she did,” Conway wrote.

Conway pointed to Trump’s resilience and described his recent political successes, including a rise in his poll numbers following 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 resolve, adding: “His bloodied face and his fist assuring us that he would not give in were genuine.”

Conway also criticized the Democratic Party’s decision to “out-Rule” 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 surrogate may have raised half a billion dollars in fundraising, but it seems far-fetched to believe that the dysfunctional Democrats… can do what an assassin’s bullet could not – stop Donald Trump.”