Longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone has found someone to blame for the Republican nominee’s recent struggles: campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Stone has been directly and indirectly jabbing the relatively new Trump official as a “Cruzbot” who isn’t well-versed in politics and wants “to be on television” just to “talk about how smart” she is.
Stone leads the pro-Trump organizations Stop the Steal and Committee to Restore America’s Greatness after previously working as a paid campaign adviser. He still regularly communicates with Trump and is informally advising him. Stone has a decades-long history of employing political dirty tricks, and he regularly spouts violent, racist, and sexist rhetoric.
Conway became Trump’s highly paid campaign manager in August after working for a super PAC that supported Trump nemesis-turned-endorser Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Conway previously attacked Trump for his “unpresidential” language, for having “built a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy,” and for not releasing his tax returns.
Stone has become increasingly displeased with Conway’s campaign stewardship since her hiring.
When the moderators of the debates were announced in early September, Stone tweeted: “Who the hell in the Trump campaign approved these debate moderators?” He then tweeted to someone who agreed with his criticism: “Ask Kelly Ann [sic] Conway who made this boneheaded decision!”
Following the first presidential debate, Conway told CNN that she “thought Lester Holt did a great job." Stone responded on Twitter: “Then you need to learn something about politics #Cruzbot.”
When Sen. Cruz praised Donald Trump’s “support of our efforts to keep the internet free,” Conway tweeted that “we appreciate @tedcruz appreciating @realDonaldTrump.” Stone replied: “I could vomit #backstabber.”
Stone has also lashed out at Conway’s apparent handling of the first presidential debate. He appeared on the radio show Liberty RoundTable and complained about Conway’s debate advice to Trump, stating:
ROGER STONE: [Hillary Clinton] gave us so many openings. I think some of his advisers, most likely Kellyanne Conway from what I hear, urged him to pursue a kinder and gentler path. Wrong! These people are venal criminals, you gotta take 'em on frontally.
He appeared on the October 4 edition of Boston Herald Radio’s Boston Herald Drive and said Trump made a “strategic misstep” by not pushing to include third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in the debates. When asked if that was Conway’s fault, Stone replied that he unsuccessfully advised Trump to include them and “somebody should ask Kellyanne why she wanted to keep the minor party candidates off the ballot. They’re not minor so more.”
Stone also said on Boston Herald Radio that “there’s a lot of fighting and I would say in-fighting and jockeying inside the current Trump campaign. It’s not nearly as smoothly operating as it was during the time that Paul Manafort, a true professional, was running things.” He further speculated that someone within the Trump campaign might have leaked Trump’s taxes to The New York Times.
Stone attacked Conway -- but not by name -- during an October 4 speech. He praised campaign chief Stephen Bannon for working behind the scenes and not getting “on TV like a certain woman we all know and talk about how smart they are, which I don’t think helps the campaign. I’d like to see the campaign managers not be on TV. … Now you got all these hot dogs who want to be on television.”
Stone recently lashed out at Trump surrogate Gov. Chris Christie, saying that he “has lied repeatedly” about the Bridgegate scandal and shouldn’t have any role helping Trump for the debates. Stone has also repeatedly attacked former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and said Trump “wisely” fired him (Lewandowski is now back in the Trump campaign fold as an informal adviser despite working for CNN).