Donald Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, found herself in the unenviable position Sunday morning of having to defend one of the candidate’s most despicable tweets ever.
On Saturday, Trump exploited the death of Nykea Aldridge, a mother of four and the cousin of Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade. Aldridge was shot and killed in crossfire on Friday as she pushed a baby in a stroller in Chicago.
In a boastful tweet, Trump claimed Aldridge’s death was an indication that African-Americans would vote for him:
”Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked Conway the only reasonable question to ask: “Do you think it’s right to have that kind of political response to a personal tragedy?”
Conway didn’t even try to back up her boss on that one. Her response: “I was pleased that his next tweet expressed his condolences to the Wade family about the death of his cousin.”
She went on, “That horrifying example, of a woman who had just signed up her children for school pushing a baby stroller, that is a nonpartisan issue that should sicken us all.”
Wallace also pressed Conway on Trump’s hire of Stephen Bannon, the chair of conservative news site Breitbart News, as his campaign’s chief executive. Wallace plucked a couple of choice Breitbart headlines to question the wisdom behind that personnel move: “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy,” and “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism Or Cancer?”
“This is the man Trump chose to run his campaign?” Wallace asked bluntly.
Conway wasn’t eager to take that one on, either.
“[Trump] chose me to manage his campaign,” she responded with a smile, “and I report directly to him.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.