George T. Conway III, prominent attorney and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, has been trying with only modest success to provoke President Trump’s Twitter wrath for the better part of his presidency. He finally succeeded close to 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Tens of thousands nationwide have died of the “deadly virus Trump ignored,” says the video, called “Mourning in America,” inspired by President Ronald Reagan’s famous “Morning in America” 1984 campaign ad.
Considered a classic of the genre, the Reagan reelection ad showed happy, prosperous Americans, smiling, going to work and getting married. It ended with the words: “It’s morning again in America, and under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago?”
“Mourning in America” is dystopian, showing dilapidated houses, a worried man in a hospital corridor, head in hands, a sick person being wheeled on a gurney, vacant industrial buildings, a man applying for unemployment compensation, crowds of Americans lined up wearing masks and scenes from a Trump speech.
It concludes with these words: “There’s mourning in America. And under the leadership of Donald Trump, our country is weaker, sicker and poorer. And now, Americans are asking, ‘If we have another four years like this, will there even be an America?’ ”
Trump responded at 12:46 a.m. Tuesday, firing off a string of tweets attacking those associated with the Lincoln Project as “LOSERS” before turning his wrath on Conway.
“I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface,” Trump tweeted, “but it must have been really bad.”
A group of RINO Republicans who failed badly 12 years ago, then again 8 years ago, and then got BADLY beaten by me, a political first timer, 4 years ago, have copied (no imagination) the concept of an ad from Ronald Reagan, “Morning in America”, doing everything possible to....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2020
....because they don’t know how to win, and their so-called Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe. I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad. John Weaver lost big for Kasich (to me). Crazed Rick Wilson....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2020
....lost for Evan “McMuffin” McMullin (to me). Steve Schmidt & Reed Galvin lost for John McCain, Romney’s campaign manager (?) lost big to “O”, & Jennifer Horn got thrown out of the New Hampshire Republican Party. They’re all LOSERS, but Abe Lincoln, Republican, is all smiles!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2020
“RINO” stands for “Republicans in name only.” The Lincoln Project was established by Republican Conway, former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, and Republican operatives John Weaver and Rick Wilson, among others. Evan McMullin, whom Trump called “Evan ‘McMuffin’ McMullin,” is a former CIA officer who ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election. “Reed Galvin” is presumably a reference to Reed Galen, a former Republican strategist and Lincoln Project co-organizer. Jennifer Horn is former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party.
Conway, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post’s opinion section, has been denouncing Trump throughout most of his presidency, sometimes in biting personal terms, describing him as mentally impaired and unfit for office.
Most recently, Conway mocked Trump’s comments about the use of disinfectant to treat covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. After Trump, in a since-deleted tweet, appeared to mistake the Pulitzer Prize for the “Noble prize,” misspelling Nobel, Conway changed his Twitter display name to “George Conway, Noble Committee Chair."
The only prior reference to Conway in the Trump Twitter archive is a relatively mild “stone cold LOSER” and “husband from hell,” who is “jealous” of his wife’s success.
George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 20, 2019
Following its release Monday, the “Mourning in America” ad circulated on the Internet for most of the day, but Trump did not publicly retaliate until after midnight.
The Lincoln Project, in its own unsigned tweet, responded to Trump’s tweets not long afterward.
“Since you are awake and trolling the internet,” it said, “here is a little bedtime story just for you,” attaching the “Mourning in America” video.
Since you are awake and trolling the internet, @realDonaldTrump , here is a little bedtime story just for you ... good night, Mr. President.#Sleeptight #CountryOverParty https://t.co/88Xhuhlsxy
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 5, 2020
