Kellyanne Chatter, Walzmentum & D.C. Schadenfreude

Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. I’m Tara Palmeri. It’s been another wild week in politics. Donald Trump muscled his way back into the news cycle today by hosting a shambolic press conference, clearly frustrated that the cameras are no longer only trained on him and that another round of his attacks on Kamala Harris just didn’t land. It seems that he’s desperate for Harris to commit an unforced error—so much so that he has agreed to not two but three debates, even though many around him think that’s ill-advised. More on that below the fold, along with a few scoops… But first…

🎧 Listen up: On this week’s episodes of my podcast, Somebody’s Gotta Win, I had a stellar lineup of guests dissecting the state of the race. On Monday, CNN’s Kasie Hunt broke down the internal machinations at Mar-a-Lago, where every day is starting to feel like an episode of Intervention. Then on Tuesday, Clinton senior advisor Doug Sosnik and I chewed over whether Tim Walz was the best possible running mate for Harris, and what the selection foreshadows for the campaign. Tomorrow, I’ll have Meridith McGraw on the show to discuss her book, Trump in Exile. Click here or here to subscribe.

Some quick notes on the recent news that Axios is laying off 50 staffers: Alas, earlier this week, the Times reported that Axios would lay off around 50 employees, or about 10 percent of its staff. In the Wednesday edition of In the Room, Dylan Byers homed in on some of the more jejune macroeconomic factors that have impacted the email-first, smart brevity empire on the banks of the Potomac, as he put it—namely “a slow Q2 in the corporate affairs-advertising sector, the rise of new incumbents who have implemented similar playbooks, and the reality that, under Cox’s ownership, some roles just don’t need to exist anymore.”Of course, at least some of the D.C.-area schadenfreude has been shaped by lingering jealousy over Axios’s $525 million sale to Cox, which was announced precisely two years ago—a deal that resulted as much from the company’s format innovations (bullet points, bullet points, bullet points!) as the reality that Axios had, essentially, reshaped the D.C. advertising market. “Axios content was B2C on the outside but very much B2B on the inside,” Dylan wrote, noting that its unique email delivery appealed to Fortune 500 companies and trade groups “looking to influence legislators or push their brand story in the capital.” Washington, of course, is a town where everyone roots for everyone else, and many simply could not believe that the company sold for twice what Jeff Bezos had paid for The Washington Post. [Read More and subscribe to In the Room here]

Can Kellyanne Go Home Again?

Amid the post-Biden Harris-Walzmentum, Trump is getting itchy for attention, and wondering if it’s time for a new voice on the campaign. Is Kellyanne Conway what he wants? Or needs?

TARA PALMERI

Despite yet another whirlwind week of campaign news, the dour mood inside Mar-a-Lago hasn’t changed much at all. In fact, according to sources familiar with the situation, new frustrations seem to be cropping up all the time: Trump is not only pissed about Kamala Harris’s bonkers fundraising ($310 million in July, and another $36 million in the 24 hours after announcing Tim Walz), but also the fact that his campaign hasn’t been able to land any blows on his more youthful political foil. (“Kamabla,” for some reason, just doesn’t quite have the right ring to it…) And instead of focusing on his own spate of unforced errors—like absurdly questioning her racial identity—he’s glancing around him, wondering if it’s time for a reshuffle. His campaign, naturally, wants to keep him “on task,” but outside voices appear to be breaking through, and are starting to have more sway over the principal than the homebound and deferential denizens of Mar-a-Lago.Of course, it goes without saying that Trump would be more successful training his fire on Harris’s record on immigration or hammering her fracking flip-flop, rather than claiming Harris is the second coming of Rachel Dolezal. But it may also be fair to question whether his brain trust is living in the past. Chris LaCivita, who famously ran the Swift Boat Veterans campaign against John Kerry, has spearheaded an attack on Walz’s military record, but it’s yet to have the same impact as it did in 2004, when the U.S. had recently invaded Iraq. Other Trump allies are wondering if pollster Tony Fabrizio is likewise frozen in carbonite, as he considers a race-baiting strategy against Harris akin to the Willie Horton ads against Dukakis back in 1988. Then there’s the fact that LaCivita and co-campaign manager Susie Wiles, while both seasoned political animals who have divined how to comfortably exist in Trump’s orbit for an extended period of time—a rare skill indeed—have never actually run a national campaign. “Trump is frustrated; LaCivita seems like he’s in a bad mood,” said one Mar-a-Lago denizen. Added another Trumpworld source: “There’s definitely a feeling that they have to come up with a better framing around the attacks on Kamala. What they’re doing now is not really working.” Needless to say, it’s all creating a considerable amount of friction. And with Trump confronting data that shows the race has narrowed to a coin toss—this past weekend, according to sources, R.N.C. co-chairs Lara Trump and Michael Whatley met with him to lay out the cold hard facts—I’m told that he’s keen on bringing one of his perennial emotional support aides, Kellyanne Conway, back into the fold. If Conway were to join the team, I’m told, it would be a lateral appointment—an extension of Wiles, whom Trump holds in high regard, and who is credited as a stabilizing force in Trumpworld. (Consistent with the 2024 campaign’s attempt to avoid the Sturm und Drang of 2020 and 2016, there won’t be a focus on titles.) The timing of Trump’s sudden pining for Conway makes sense on a few levels. Until two weeks ago, of course, the campaign seemed almost on cruise control. Back then, the principal had survived a horrifying assassination attempt and enjoyed a triumphal, coronation-style R.N.C. But now, in this newly minted, post-Biden race, Trump seems to be reaching for a familiar face—one that helped him defeat another formidable female opponent eight years ago. Wiles, for her part, has not been resistant to the idea of bringing Conway aboard, and has even suggested that she could use the extra help. “The president wants to bring her on and some people are upset about it,” said one Trump advisor. “I think Chris and Susie are resigned to the fact that there’s been a big shift—we’ve got a new candidate and a new V.P.—and we need to also shift. They’re both in the place where they’re okay with it.” (David Plouffe, Conway’s podcast co-host, has accepted a role on the Harris campaign.) When asked whether Conway would join the campaign, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung refused to comment. “We’re too busy winning an election—something we’ve done for 21 months—and helping President Trump save this country,” he said. “We won’t respond to unnamed sources or made up quotes.”

Kellyanne Pros & Cons

Conway’s onboarding is also being pushed by both Lara and Melania Trump, with the latter recognizing the value of a familiar face amid a sea of relative newcomers. And it helps even more that major donor Ike Perlmutter has been lobbying for Conway to join the campaign. “The genesis of this was when Kellyanne tweeted out the picture with Trump,” said the Trump advisor. “That was the moment when Kellyanne and Trump were saying: This is where I’m going.”Conway is not without detractors, especially among those loyal to the existing leadership team and to J.D. Vance and his organization. In fact, if Conway were to join the campaign, one of her biggest hurdles would be resolving the tension with Vance. (Conway was a vocal proponent for Marco Rubio during the veepstakes.) However, I’ve heard from multiple sources that Conway and Vance have connected over the phone to clear the air. (Stay tuned.) Other Kellyanne player haters would point to the fact that she recently registered as a foreign agent for a Ukrainian oligarch, who pays her $50,000 a month to build U.S. support for Ukraine. (Perhaps one reason why she supported the neocon Rubio.) She’s also on retainer with the R.N.C., which has paid her $110,000 since the formation of the Trump Victory Fund in March. Nevertheless, the fact that her Ukrainian arrangement was leaked to the press is being interpreted as an attempt to block her path back into Trumpworld, the implication being that she’s profiting off her association with the former president and therefore untrustworthy, myopic, radioactive, etcetera. But ultimately, I’m told, Lara has told Trump that she is pro-Conway. Among other things, Conway has been arguing that the Republicans lack a solid field operation compared with the Democrats. Of course, re-engaging Conway changes the dynamics of a campaign that views her with suspicion. This is not 2016, when divided factions and infighting were a signature of the Trump campaign, and the current crew would like to keep it that way. Conway’s doubters also question how impactful her role as campaign manager actually was in 2016, pointing to David Bossie, Brad Parscale, and Steve Bannon as playing an equal if not greater role in Trump’s surprise victory. For now, whether Conway joins the campaign in an official capacity remains a 50-50 proposition. She earns a sizable fee for speaking gigs, has a Fox News contract, then there’s the new Ukrainian sinecure. But she also has the unique ability to get Trump on the phone. “Does Trump listen to Kellyanne? Does he take input from women easier? Yes, more than men,” said one advisor. “He listens to Hope Hicks. He listens to Brooke Rollins. Ironically, he likes powerful women. If you’re a sharp woman, he will listen to you. Hope and these people could tell him the hardest shit. He may not have done anything, but at least he listens.” Was this advisor surprised to hear that Trump wants Conway back, despite having LaCivita and Wiles running the show? “How many campaign managers were there in 2016? In 2020?” Fair point.

FOUR STORIES WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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The $10B Cosmetics Kingpin

Chatting with e.l.f. C.M.O. Kory Marchisotto.

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Network News Switcheroos

A potpourri of insider media news and scuttlebutt.

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Wonder Walz

Trading notes on the real impact of Tim Walz.

PETER HAMBY & JOHN HEILEMANN

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