Donald Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway's Super-Sad Sunday

By Asawin Suebsaeng and Olivia Nuzzi, The Daily Beast

24 October 16

Trump campaign spin master Kellyanne Conway completed another Sunday of acrobatic twists and turns defending her candidate, but something about this weekend’s edition came across as depressing for all involved

o hear Kellyanne Conway tell it, the Trump campaign is doing just fine. 

The growing list of women who claim Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sexually assaulted or harassed them are a non-issue. His decision to publicly say he might not accept the results of the election is no big deal. And his standing in the polls––5.9 points behind Hillary Clinton, according to the Real Clear Politics average––is nothing to worry about, because, as she says, “the race is not over.” 

Really, things are going great, if only the media would stop being so hard on her candidate. 

On Sunday morning, Conway, who has served as Trump’s campaign manager since August, made the rounds on the political talk shows sporting a toothy smile and red blouse. Her demeanor was as sunny as ever, and she did her best to convince viewers that despite all evidence to the contrary, Donald J. Trump will prevail. 

On CNN’s State of the Union, Conway deflected from the first question, about Trump’s 15-minute tirade against his accusers distracting from the rest of his speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by talking about his plan to “create 25 million jobs.” Conway blamed the media for not focusing on that, rather than Trump’s stated plan to sue the women accusing him of wrongdoing after the election is over. 

“Every woman lied,” Trump said at the rally on Saturday. “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over,” he promised the crowd.

Asked if she knew ahead of time that Trump planned to devote so much time to campaigning against the various women who claim they were groped, kissed, or otherwise improperly treated by him, Conway said, smiling, “Well, he delivers his own speeches. This is his candidacy. He’s the guy who’s running for the White House.” 

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Conway admitted “we are behind” but said it was because Clinton has “tremendous advantages,” like her surrogates, former president Bill Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama, who she said are, “much more popular than she can hope to be.” In other words, Trump’s problems, and even potentially his eventual loss on Election Day, can be blamed on Clinton rather than his own behavior. 

“Our advantage going in,” Conway said, “is that Donald Trump is just going to continue to take the case directly to the people.” 

Conway then said Trump threatening to sue his accusers (which seems unlikely since it would require him to be subjected to a discovery process) is just “a way to defend himself.” 

She also said that the real-estate mogul won’t sue the women immediately because, “We're busy winning the presidency. We're a little bit busy over here doing that…He's just putting people on notice.”

Recently, Conway has mystified her Twitter followers and the press by retweeting statements that were complimentary to her, but reflected negatively on Trump. When BuzzFeed reporter McKay Coppins tweeted a supporter had yelled at Trump to “stay on the issues,” Conway remarked, “That was me! I was there...” And during the presidential debate on Wednesday, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa tweeted, “‘Bad Hombres’ = Trump being Trump. Trump’s other answers = Conway-esque.” Conway retweeted the comment with an added, “--- >.” 

When host Chuck Todd asked Conway about her social-media behavior, she responded, "Just on those tweets, because I actually have a sense of humor that maybe some are lacking...as does my client here, Donald Trump, [who said], 'That's all good, we're having a great time here.'"

That same morning on Fox News Sunday, when host Chris Wallace asked Conway how she planned to fix Trump’s collapse with only two weeks left before Election Day, she again stated that Trump was “taking the case directly to the voters,” something the campaign believes sets them apart from Clinton, because her events are smaller than his rallies, and she holds them with less frequency. 

Asked if Trump’s plans to sue his accusers “step on his serious agenda,” Conway said, “He’s just trying to defend himself against, uh, false accusers, as he says.” 

Conway is the quintessential happy warrior, a much more reliable and eloquent spokesperson for Trump than the other talking heads who work on his behalf. Still, the alternate reality she presents on television is hard to reconcile with what Trump says himself, onstage at his rallies, and the apparent negative effect that has on his precious poll numbers.

“If you see me sitting here as a campaign manager, then that's where my heart and my head are,” Conway assured Wallace.

Oh, Kellyanne. 

The US and Canada Have Blood on Their Hands in Honduras

By Grahame Russell, teleSUR

24 October 16

The international community needs to be held to account for propping up and subsidizing the murderous regime in Honduras.

onduran military and police forces, backed by the international community and in particular millions of U.S. dollars, once again brutally attacked peaceful protesters in a week that saw more social movement blood spilt.

The march on Thursday organized by the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, or COPINH, and OFRANEH, an organization which represents the Afro-Indigenous Garifuna people, converged outside the Attorney General’s office to demand justice following the assassination of two more prominant social movement leaders in the country.

During the attack, heavily armed police and COBRA forces (Special Operations Command) indiscriminately fired tear gas canisters and water cannons and physically beat girls and boys, women and men, and the elderly.

Police and COBRA forces attacked just as OFRANEH was initiating a drumming and spiritual ceremony. COPINH was once led by globally-renowned activist Berta Caceres, who was murdered this year for opposing the construction of a dam. They are two of the most respected community organizations in Honduras since before the 2009 U.S. and Canadian-backed military coup, and particularly since then.

Eyewitness Karen Spring from the Honduras Solidarity Network reported: "The repression was brutal and I've been in a lot of repressive marches since the 2009 coup. This one was up there with the worst, especially since a COPINH member reported that one police took his gun out and fired a shot at his feet. It all happened so fast and no one expected it; there was no time to get children and elderly out. People were grabbing kids and running with them as they were crying and choking from the teargas. The police chased protestors for almost 2 kilometers from the Attorney General's office."

COPINH and OFRANEH marched to denounce the assassinations this week of Jose Angel Flores and Silmer Dionosio George, two leaders of MUCA, or the Unified Campesino Movement of the Aguan, and the recent attempted killing of two COPINH members. The organizations also are demanding justice for the March 3 assassination of COPINH co-founder Caceres; the establishment of an independent international commission to investigate her assassination; and to demand cancellation of the concession granted illegally to the DESA corporation to develop the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam project in Rio Blanco, along with numerous other illegal mining and hydroelectric concessions on Lenca territories in western Honduras.

Berta Caceres’ Daughter Speaks

After the attack, Berta Caceres’ daughter – Bertita – spoke in a press conference:

“This is yet another act of repression against people demanding justice for the assassination of our compañera Berta Cáceres. How is it possible that soldiers, weapons and repression are the only way the regime deals with us, even when we have Protective Measures from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights? … Despite all this repression, harassment and criminalization, we will not permit the construction of development projects of death in our communities.”

Do Not Write Letters of Protest to the Regime

Wondering what to do about this latest act of State repression in Honduras?

Don’t write letters of protest to the regime.

They are impervious to them. In power since the 2009 coup, the economic, military and political elites care about two things: maintaining their mutually beneficial economic and political relations with and support from the international community (primarily: governments of U.S., Canada and the European community; the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank; and a host of global investors and companies working in the sectors of African palm, sugar cane, bananas, garment “sweatshop” factories, mining and tourism); and, maintaining relations with and support from the U.S. military.

The repression, corruption and impunity in Honduras are not “Honduran” problems. They are problems of this so-called “international community” together with the Honduran elites. International economic and military relations are the lifeblood of the regime. This is how power works.

Through our denunciations and activism, we have to make this “international community” take responsibility for its actions. If accountability is not brought to complicity of the military, economic and political backers of the Honduran regime, the repression, corruption and impunity will not stop.