Donald Trump's new campaign manager bad-mouthed Trump on CNN

(Image credit: Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

published 19 August 2016

On Wednesday, Donald Trump decided to shake up his top campaign staff when he hired Breitbart News CEO Stephen Bannon as his campaign CEO and elevated adviser Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager. But the woman now tasked with running the Trump operation — supposedly trusted with such duties because she appreciates Trump's authentic if controversial style, something ousted campaign chair Paul Manafort was reportedly tasked with moderating — wasn't always so pro-Trump.

In a series of cable news appearances flagged by Media Matters from before her promotion this week, Conway is shown repeatedly disagreeing with Trump on issues ranging from his business acumen to his tax returns. John Whitehouse of Media Matters shared the clips back-to-back on Twitter, and they paint quite the stark picture:

In his statement announcing the staffing changes Wednesday, Trump said he'd known Conway for many years, so it's entirely possible he's familiar with his new campaign manager's many public criticisms of him. (Conway has also been a long-time employee of Trump's running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.) Rolling Stone notes that Conway is "often enlisted to help conservative Republican men tailor their message to win over women voters," but whether Trump will heed her advice and win over a demographic he's trailing greatly with remains to be seen. After all, the dismissed Manafort once molded ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych into a more palatable figure — and even he was unable to make Trump into the moderate general election candidate many in the Republican Party hoped for.