Before she became Donald Trump’s campaign manager in the closing months of the 2016 campaign, Kellyanne Conway was a pollster. Even her Twitter handle reflects this: @Kellyannepolls. And based on what we learned Tuesday in a court filing related to the case against another former Trump campaign manager/chairman, Paul Manafort, Conway’s polling credentials have now placed her squarely in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs.
The filing in question was from Manafort’s attorneys, but they clumsily redacted sections of the document that were easily uncovered by simply cutting and pasting the blacked-out sentences which laid out exactly how Manafort shared detailed polling data with a man named Konstantin Kilimnik, who also happens to have deep ties to Russian military intelligence.
David Measer, an advertising and communications expert, went on Twitter to explain the importance of polling data from the Trump campaign and how it might have been shared with Russia so that strategic targeting of key voters could be done on social media sites such as Facebook. Measer writes:
“At the heart of any campaign, big or small, is data. Data about the market, people, the competition. In politics, this is called ‘polling.’ Same thing.”
Measer then explained exactly how the fact that Kellyanne Conway was involved in polling clearly implicates her in the growing Russia conspiracy:
THREAD: I'm just an advertising guy, but thought I'd put a marketing lens on the news of Manafort sharing "polling data" with a Russian operative.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
At the heart of any campaign, big or small, is data. Data about the market, people, the competition. In politics, this is called "polling." Same thing.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
Data is the raw material in the battle that brands fight to win hearts and minds, and get people to choose one product over another. To vote with their wallets.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
Data (polls) is one of the most valuable resources a company has.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
What do we do with the data? We use it to decide who to target. To position the brand as distinctive from other brands. To develop messaging and ads. To de-position and conquest the competition (and lots more).
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
Sharing polling data means you're working together. Conspiring. Making decisions together. Working to destroy the competition.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
So, if you've got Manafort sharing valuable and proprietary data with a Russian intelligence operative, and you've got a Russian hacking operationg stealing the competition's (the DNC's and the Clinton campaign's) data…then you've got it all.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
Everything you need to destroy the competition.
Not so benign anymore.
You know who knows a lot about this? @KellyannePolls — someone should ask her.
— David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019
Who would have conducted polls for Trump before she took control of the campaign in August 2016, just three months before the election? Kellyanne Conway, aka @Kellyannepolls. And she could have easily passed those polls along to Manafort so he could give them to Konstantin Kilimnik, the Russian spy. That, as the old saying goes, means it’s game over for Ms. Conway and anyone else in the upper echelons of the 2016 Trump campaign, including Donald Trump himself.
For two years now, Trump has repeatedly parroted the line, “No collusion” when the Russia investigation comes up. But that’s just another lie. And now Mueller can prove the entire Trump campaign was actively conspiring to rig the 2016 election.
Game, set, and match Robert Mueller.
As for Kellyane, the solution (and the karma) is simple: LOCK HER UP!