George Conway: Principle or loyalty?

 PERRYSCOPE 

Perry Diaz

Little did George Conway III, a Filipino-American, know that two years after President Donald Trump won the presidency, he’d find himself in a state of emotional levitation.  With a lucrative legal career that he left behind for the opportunity to serve Trump, he’s now faced with a bleak future.

Conway graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.  He clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  After that, he became a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.  In 2010, he argued the Morrison V. National Australia Bank before the U.S. Supreme Court.  He won the case with a unanimous decision penned by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.  That was his ticket to the small circle of well-sought and highly paid Washington lawyers.

But what got Conway where he is today is his marriage to one of Trump’s trusted – if not the most trusted – aides, Kellyanne Conway.  Indeed, Kellyanne has been with Trump from the early days of his presidential run.  As Trump’s Counselor, Kellyanne survived all the purges and firings that Trump did, including Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, Senior Advisor Steve Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and more than 50 White House staff. 

Early in the Trump administration, Conway was on the short list of candidates considered by Trump for the position of U.S. Solicitor General, the fourth highest-ranking position at the Department of Justice (DOJ).  But the job was given to Noel Francisco, another Filipino-American, who served under former President George W. Bush and a member of the Federalist Society, a highly influential ultra-conservative group.  

Subsequently, Conway was considered for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the DOJ.  But he took himself out of the running, shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller III. When he was asked why he declined the appointment, Conway said: “If I get this door prize [the DOJ appointment], I'm going to be in the middle of a department he [Trump] is at war with.  Why would anybody want to do this?"

Streak of independence

Evidently, Conway, notwithstanding his marriage to Kellyanne, showed a streak of independence.  His principled stand against Trump’s firing of Comey and a number of controversial executive orders that Trump signed had put him in Trump’s bull’s eye. 

At one time, Conway defended Mueller’s efforts to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.  According to The Guardian, Trump’s former senior aide Omarosa Manigault Newman had overheard Trump calling Conway a “f***ing flip” and a “goo-goo,” which are derogatory terms for Filipino-Americans (his mother is Filipino).  However, Conway reacted in a tweet -- maybe out of deference to Kellyanne -- calling Omarosa’s allegations “not credible” and “ridiculous.”  

Indeed, Conway has been on Trump’s crosshairs for his penchant for writing anti-Trump articles.  On one occasion, Conway implied in his tweet that Trump had regularly made false and misleading statements.  That must have infuriated Trump yet he didn’t repudiate Conway publicly. 

Troubled marriage

But Kellyanne seemed to be troubled by her husband’s incessant criticism of Trump.  According to her new Washington Post profile, she said, “I feel there’s a part of him that thinks I chose Donald Trump over him, which is ridiculous. One is my work and one is my marriage.”  But George told the Post that the tweets are an “outlet” and “a quick easy way to express myself.”  However, Kellyanne believes that her husband’s criticism was disrespectful of Trump and her.  But George denied that Kellyanne has a problem with him and said the problem was with her boss, Trump.  “If there’s an issue,” he said, “it’s because she’s in that job, for that man.”   “If my wife were the counselor to the CEO of Pepsi and I had a problem with her boss, I would simply drink Coke and keep my mouth shut.  If the president were simply mediocre or even bad, I’d have nothing to say.  This is much different.”  Does that make sense? 

And that’s exactly what George, a conservative, did.   He said he no longer feels comfortable in the Republican Party.  Consequently, he left the Republican Party.  “I don't feel comfortable being a Republican anymore.  I think the Republican Party has become something of a personality cult,” he said.  

He urged fellow conservatives to speak up more loudly, when they see President Trump challenging the rule of law.  And this caused Trump to go ballistics.   Yet, he didn’t seem to take it on Kellyanne.  The reason is probably because he felt indebted to Kellyanne because she was with him when things went south during the 2016 campaign.  “My wife did an amazing thing [for Trump],” recalled George. “He was in the crapper when she took that campaign over.”

But Trump continued to ignore George’s criticisms.  “He’s just trying to get publicity for himself,” Trump said.  He referred to George as “Mr. Kellyanne Conway,” saying that his criticisms toward him were designed to get attention. 

Going to Australia?

Although Kellyanne would most likely stay and support Trump’s re-election bid in 2020, George said he would not support Trump in 2020.  But politics is like basketball where players are traded at the whim of the basketball team owners.  They would keep a mediocre player if that would help the team and they would trade a superstar if that would help the team.  It’s all about what a player can do for the team, not what the team can do for the player.”  Kellyanne is a superstar for as long as Trump needs her.  But like they say, “The ball is round.”

But George’s abhorrence of Trump was such that he once said that his dislike of his administration balances out his wife's dislike of his vocal opposition to the White House.  While Kellyanne defends Trump like the fabled Japanese blind samurai, she and George remain married, which makes one wonder:  Does each serve as “insurance” to the other?  Could it also be that Trump figured that George has gone down the “river of no return,” that he cannot afford to lose Kellyanne because she knows where the skeletons are buried?  

Yes, one enemy is better than two. Indeed, Kellyanne – in any capacity – would be an asset to Trump’s 2020 presidential run.  All he has to do is ask Kellyanne to rein in George.  But could Kellyanne put her husband on a short leash; to keep him happy and satisfied until Trump’s re-election bid was over?  However, if Trump wins, everybody in his team becomes expendable.  They can all go to hell for all he cares.  That’s the Machiavellian nature of Trump. 

But while George still maintains that Trump was the lesser evil during the 2016 elections, he’s unsure about 2020.  “But if faced with the choice again, I’d probably move to Australia,” he quipped.

At the end of the day, George Conway has a dilemma. On the one hand, he was considering moving to Australia to get away from the murky swamps of the nation’s capital.  But on the other hand, if he stays where he is, he’d be exposed to the same dirty politics that’s hounding him now.  Indeed, he’s torn between principle and loyalty.  It’s like a vise squeezing his head slowly, excruciatingly.  

To stick to his principle, he may really have to move to Australia or closer… Canada.  But to remain loyal to Trump -- by way of his marriage to Kellyanne -- he just might swallow his principle like a bitter pill and go whichever way the wind goes.  But then he’d wake up one day and realize that he faces a new interference: his conscience.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)