TV is the new “great communicator” for Donald Trump’s advisers.
His campaign-manager-turned-transition aide, Kellyanne Conway, gave the president-elect some eyebrow-raising advice Sunday by publicly opposing Mitt Romney for secretary of state.
Conway appeared on a series of morning talk shows to blast Romney over his intense past criticism of her boss, saying he was “nothing but awful” and questioning whether he even voted for Trump.
“There was the ‘Never Trump’ movement and then there was Governor Mitt Romney,” Conway told ABC’s “This Week.” “He went out of his way to hurt Donald Trump.”
On CNN’ s “State of the Union,” Conway said Trump supporters “felt betrayed” that Romney was under consideration, and she attacked his credentials, wondering if he’d “been around the globe doing something on behalf of the United States of which we’re unaware.”
Conway also told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she was “just astonished at the breadth, the breathtaking volume and intensity of blow-back that I see,” citing social-media outrage and “particularly in private communications.”
Conway’s three-network media blitz followed the televised counsel that Trump campaign adviser Newt Gingrich delivered during the controversy over Trump’s Twitter tirade against ex-Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
“You can’t tweet at 3 in the morning. Period. There’s no excuse. Ever. Not if you’re gonna be president of the United States,” Gingrich said during a Sept. 30 appearance on the Fox News Channel.
Conway last month admitted that Trump’s keen attention to TV news made it an ideal way to reach him.
“A way you can communicate with him is you go on TV to communicate,” she told New York magazine.
Also Sunday, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus refused to tell “Fox News Sunday” if Romney would have to publicly apologize to land the secretary of state job.
“I’m not going to do the play by play . . . on what’s going to be required or where things are at,” Priebus said.
In March, Romney delivered a blistering speech in which he called Trump “a con man,” “a fake,” “a phony” and “a fraud.” Trump shot back by calling the 2012 Republican presidential nominee a “choker” and saying he “walks like a penguin.”
Priebus also said that in addition to interviewing Romney, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, Trump was “going to be talking to others next week” before nominating anyone.
Conway’s broadsides against Romney fueled speculation that Trump was in on the attacks and was planning to humiliate Romney by rejecting him, The Associated Press reported.
During Thanksgiving dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump asked his guests for input about whom he should choose, Page Six reported.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called both Romney and Giuliani “good, capable, serious men” during an appearance on “This Week.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, meanwhile, didn’t discuss Romney during an appearance on “State of the Union,” and wouldn’t say if he would vote to confirm Giuliani.