White House counselor Kellyanne Conway offered a blistering appraisal Monday of the growing field of Democratic presidential candidates, saying none has the mettle to match President Trump in 2020.
“I’ve yet to see presidential timber. I just see a bunch of presidential wood chips,” Mrs. Conway said on “Fox & Friends.”
The first woman to manage a successful presidential campaign in 2016, Mrs. Conway said of the Democratic hopefuls to date, “They can’t beat Donald Trump.”
She offered her views on the weaknesses of these Democrats:
• Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who is holding an event Monday night near a Trump rally in the border city.
“That guy … apparently wants to reward his loss of a Senate seat, his loss to Ted Cruz in Texas, with running for president,” Mrs. Conway said. “Let’s just bring that to the whole country now, being a loser.”
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who announced her candidacy Sunday in a snowstorm in Minneapolis.
“I don’t think that was a very impressive rollout,” Mrs. Conway said. “It’s a lot of sing-songy, happy talk from these folks, or it’s virulently anti-Donald Trump at all times.”
She also referred to reports that Ms. Klobuchar treats her staff poorly and has one of the highest staff turnover rates in the Senate.
“Amy Klobuchar, who seems to be a very nice person, I guess, unless you’re on her staff — she’s had some terrible articles about how she treats them,” Mrs. Conway said.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who announced her candidacy on Saturday amid fresh proof that she identified herself in the past as Native American.
“Elizabeth Warren spent decades, folks, decades, appropriating somebody else’s heritage and ethnicity, and she’s been lying about it,” Mrs. Conway said.
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who ate fried chicken with a fork at a campaign event in South Carolina last weekend before picking it up with her fingers.
“Apparently it was the first time she had ever eaten fried chicken, and she waited for the cameras to roll,” Mrs. Conway said.
She also has called Ms. Gilliband the “third choice of New York’s second choice,” a reference to her appointment by the governor in 2009.
• Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California, came under her criticism for endorsing the “Green New Deal,” a proposal by liberals to eliminate all carbon emissions in the U.S. The president has sarcastically referred to the plan as “brilliant,” saying it would put the U.S. at an extreme economic disadvantage with the rest of the world.
Mrs. Conway also has commented previously on the candidacy of Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, asking aloud, “What exactly have you accomplished that qualifies you to be the commander-in-chief and president of the United States?”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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