George Conway, a former advocate for President-elect Trump who has been outspoken against his candidacy, argued in an op-ed in The Atlantic Wednesday that America “did this to itself.”
“This time, the nation was on notice. Back in 2016, those of us who supported Donald Trump at least had the excuse of not knowing how sociopathy can present itself, and we at least had the conceit of believing that the presidency was not just a man, but an institution greater than the man, with legal and traditional mechanisms to make sure he’d never go off the rails,” Conway opened the op-ed.
After the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which President Biden won, Conway argued the American people knew a lot better who Trump was.
“So there was no excuse this year. We knew all we needed to know, even without the mendacious raging bout Ohioans eating pets, the fantasizing about shooting journalists and arresting political opponents as ‘enemies of the people,’” he wrote. “Even apart from the evidence presented in courts and the convictions in one that demonstrated his abject criminality.”
The Hill and Decision Desk HQ called the presidential race for Trump early Wednesday morning. He skated to a second term after securing the critical battleground states of Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Results are still being counted in Arizona.
Conway worked with the Anti-Psychopath PAC during the campaign, working to elect Vice President Harris. On Wednesday, he argued that the “only hope” for the country is that Trump is “utterly incompetent.”
“We knew, and have known, for years. Every American knew, or should have known. The man elected president last night is a depraved and brazen pathological liar, a shameless con man, a sociopathic criminal, a man who has no moral or social conscience, empathy, or remorse,” he wrote.
Conway argued Trump has no respect for the Constitution and the laws the presidency swears to upkeep.
“He represents everything we should aspire not to be, and everything we should teach our children not to emulate,” he wrote.
Conway said Wednesday he is full of sorrow, not anger.
Conway wrote that his belief that Harris would win and Trump would be defeated for the second time was wrong, calling it an “emotional flaw” to believe people would have voted against Trump.
Conway told America to “brace ourselves,” because the country will see a “profound degradation” in the ability to govern.
“I feel chastened—distraught—about my apparently naïve view of human nature,” he wrote.
