Former presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway responded Thursday to President Joe Biden demanding hers and other Trump appointees’ resignations from the boards of the various U.S. military service academies.
“President, Biden, I’m not resigning, but you should,” Conway posted to Twitter, captioning a letter she wrote to POTUS.
President Biden, I’m not resigning, but you should. pic.twitter.com/HuRYM4bLYP
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) September 8, 2021
Conway wrote in the letter, “Your decision is disappointing but understandable given the need to distract from a news cycle that has you mired in multiple self-inflicted crises and plummeting poll numbers, including a rise in new COVID cases, a dismal jobs report, inflation, record amount of drugs coming across the southern border, and, of course, the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan that left hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies stranded under Taliban rule.”
In a follow-up post reacting to criticism on left-wing social media site Twitter, Conway suggested her foes “get some fresh air” and “make a friend” offline.
“Since I’m not the Conway on Twitter regularly,” she wrote, referencing her husband George Conway, “I’d forgotten how left-wing it is and how nutty some people are. LOLOL. I’m WORRIED for you. Get some fresh air, folks. Wear pants that button and zipper again. Get a hobby that doesn’t involve a keyboard. Make a friend.”
Since I’m not the Conway on Twitter regularly, I’d forgotten how left-wing it is and how nutty some people are. LOLOL. I’m WORRIED for you. Get some fresh air, folks. Wear pants that button and zipper again. Get a hobby that doesn’t involve a keyboard. Make a friend. https://t.co/k1mR2JVLON
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) September 8, 2021
Conway was not alone in her defiant message. Trump-era White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced Wednesday that he will not be resigning from the Naval Academy Board and will instead join a lawsuit against the Biden administration.
“All Trump appointees, including myself, have been kicked off the boards of the United States Naval Academy Air Force Academy in West Point in an unprecedented move by the Biden administration,” Spicer announced his Newsmax show, “Spicer & Company.”
“I’m announcing tonight for the first time that I will not be submitting my resignation and I will be joining a lawsuit to fight this,” he told viewers.
Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested Conway, Spicer, and others from the past administration are not “qualified” to be on the board and do not “align” with Biden administration “values.”
“The President’s objective is what any president’s objective is — to ensure you have nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with your values,” Psaki said at the presser. “And so yes, that was an ask that was made.”
“I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards, but the President’s qualification requirements are not your party registration, they are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration,” she added.
Here’s a report from The Daily Wire about the unprecedented move by the administration to remove Trump-era officials:
The Joe Biden administration is purging the federal government’s constellation of advisory boards and commissions of Donald Trump appointees, even though such people are typically appointed to fixed terms and are not removed by new presidents.
Officials received a curt letter, one dated today, saying “Please submit your resignation to me by the close of business today. Should we not receive your resignation, your position with the Board will be terminated effective 6:00 pm tonight. Thank you.”
The removals range from highly credentialed experts at obscure entities where politics are unlikely to be an issue, such as the Arctic Research Commission, to military service academies.
In some cases, the Biden administration initially opted to refuse to convene the commissions, including the National Board for Education Sciences — meaning the Biden administration chose to suspend a board dedicated to science in education during a year defined by schools’ attempt to grapple with how they should respond to the coronavirus, seemingly to ensure that no one tied to Trump would have a voice.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier in the day that Biden asked various appointees of former President Trump to step down from the boards.
Asked about the risk of politicizing these boards, Psaki said, “I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on this board.”
Sources: Daily Wire, Fox News, The Hill