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Stephanie Cegielski says the Republican frontrunner had no real interest in becoming president. (Photo: XOJane)
The top strategist for Donald Trump’s short-lived super-PAC says the Republican frontrunner does not want to become president — and that he had launched his “protest” bid for the GOP nomination simply to prove a point: that he could come close.
“Almost a year ago,” Stephanie Cegielski writes in an lengthy letter to Trump supporters published by the website XOjane.com, “I sat in Trump Tower being told that the goal was to get The Donald to poll in double digits and come in second in delegate count. That was it.”
Cegielski, former communications director for the Make America Great Again super-PAC, says the expectations for the real estate mogul’s campaign were incredibly low.
“The Trump camp would have been satisfied to see him polling at 12 percent and taking second place to a candidate who might hold 50 percent,” Cegielski writes. “His candidacy was a protest candidacy. It pains me to say, but he is the presidential equivalent of Sanjaya on ‘American Idol.’ President Trump would be President Sanjaya in terms of legitimacy and authority. I am now taking full responsibility for helping create this monster — and reaching out directly to those voters who, like me, wanted Trump to be the real deal.”
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, dismissed Cegielski’s assertions:
This person was never employed by the Trump campaign. Evidently she worked for a Super PAC which Mr. Trump disavowed and requested the closure of via the FEC. She knows nothing about Mr. Trump or the campaign and her disingenuous and factually inaccurate statements in no way resemble any shred of truth. This is yet another desperate person looking for their fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is running for President because he is the only one who will Make America Great Again.
Cegielski, who began working for the Trump-connected PAC last summer, said she was inspired by Trump’s performance during the first Republican debate in Cleveland, where he sparred with Fox News host Megyn Kelly.
“The exchange with Megyn Kelly was like manna from heaven for a communications director,” she writes. “She appeared like yet another reporter trying to kick out the guest who wasn’t invited to the party. At the time, I felt excited for the change to the debate he could bring. I began realizing the man really resonates with the masses and would bring people to the process who had never participated before. That was inspiring to me.”
But the inspiration was short-lived.
“It wasn’t long before every day I awoke to a buzzing phone and a shaking head because Trump had said something politically incorrect the night before,” Cegielski writes.
Millions to play a game & pass the time. Billionaires gotta find entertainment too.Millions to come in second?
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Every million he spends he makes back with a multiplier... The least profitable outcome is if he wins the WHMillions to play a game & pass the time. Billionaires gotta find entertainment too.Millions to come in second?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
I said FROM THE BEGINNING that this was nothing but a game for a bored billionaire. I believe 110% that I was dead accurate.
Every million he spends he makes back with a multiplier... The least profitable outcome is if he wins the WHMillions to play a game & pass the time. Billionaires gotta find entertainment too.Millions to come in second?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
I said FROM THE BEGINNING that this was nothing but a game for a bored billionaire. I believe 110% that I was dead accurate.
