George Conway calls Trump ‘evil’ and ‘racist’ as wife Kellyanne quits White House
He claims US president ‘is like a practical joke that got out of hand’
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George Conway, the husband of Donald Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, called the president “evil” and “racist” in footage filmed prior to his wife announcing her departure from the White House.
Mr Conway, the co-founder of The Lincoln project, a Republican political action committee that is aiming to prevent the re-election of Mr Trump, is featured in the film, #Unfit The Psychology Of Donald Trump, that will be released on 1 September.
Ms Conway announced on Sunday that she will be leaving the White House at the end of the month, after serving as counselor to the president since 2017 and previously working as his campaign manager.
In the trailer for the film, Mr Conway, who voted for Mr Trump in the 2016 presidential election, claimed that “Donald Trump is like a practical joke that got out of hand.”
He said that he gave Mr Trump the benefit of the doubt up until July 2019, when the president told four progressive Democratic politicians to go back to their own countries.
The president said: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” about Democratic representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tliab and Ayanna Pressley.
Mr Conway said that these remarks were a tipping point, as it reminded him of a moment when as a teenager his mother, who came to the US from the Philippines in the 1950s, was told to “go back to your country.”
He said: “I just think of myself as an American, and I just assume people aren’t racist. And I tend to forget, well, some people are. And that’s sort of the lesson with Trump, is I just gave him the benefit of the doubt.
“What he said about those members of Congress brought back that memory of, wow, there really are people like that here.”
Mr Conway, who was previously considered for a role in the White House alongside his wife, said: “It really came home to me: This man is a racist, he is evil,” and added: “He’s a racist. Beyond any question.”
The trailer was released the day after both Mr and Ms Conway announced that they would be stepping down from their roles at The Lincoln Project and the White House respectively.
The announcements came a day after their 15-year-old daughter said on Twitter that she was seeking “emancipation”. Their daughter has garnered social media attention for various posts and videos about their family life and her political opinions over the last couple of months.
Last year, the couple were also in the news, after Mr Conway declared the president mentally unfit for office, in response to Mr Trump calling him a “wack job” and a “husband from hell” during a feud on Twitter.
In a statement on Sunday, Ms Conway announced that she would be leaving the White House at the end of the month, and wrote: “We disagree about plenty but we are united on what matters most: the kids.
“Our four children are teens and tweens starting a new academic year, in middle school and high school, remotely from home for at least a few months. As millions of parents nationwide know, kids ‘doing school from home’ requires a level of attention and vigilance that is as unusual as these times.”
In a statement released a few minutes later, Mr Conway tweeted: “So I’m withdrawing from @ProjectLincoln to devote more time to family matters. And I’ll be taking a Twitter hiatus.”
He added: “Needless to say, I continue to support the Lincoln Project and its mission. Passionately.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
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