Members of the media and the Republican “establishment” weren’t the only ones who expected Donald Trump’s candidacy to fail — his original supporters expected it too. Stephanie Cegielski, former Communications director for Donald Trump’s Super PAC, Make America Great Again, wrote a stunning letter to The Donald’s supporters on Monday, encouraging them to pull their support for the real estate mogul, and arguing that he never wanted to be president.
Cegielski remembers her first day on the job:
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.
The Trump camp would have been satisfied to see him polling at 12% and taking second place to a candidate who might hold 50%. His candidacy was a protest candidacy.
Instead, “What was once Trump’s desire to rank second place to send a message to America and to increase his power as a businessman has nightmarishly morphed into a charade that is posed to do irreparable damage to this country if we do not stop this campaign in its tracks.”
Cegielski argued that, ironically, the best way Trump’s supporters can help The Donald, is to not vote for him: “You can give Trump the biggest gift possible if you are a Trump supporter: stop supporting him.”
He doesn’t want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House. He’s achieved that already and then some. If there is any question, take it from someone who was recruited to help the candidate succeed, and initially very much wanted him to do so.
The former spokeswoman went on to explain her own transition. Last October, she supported the internal decision to close the Super PAC in order to position Trump as the quintessential non-politician. “I still supported him with great passion after that,” Cegielski wrote. “The decision to close the Super PAC was part of that devotion to his message of outsider change.”
Only after her job had ended did this former Trump supporter realize the truth — that Donald Trump is not real. “I consider myself a part of the silent majority that led to Trump’s rise, which is why I want you to know that I am with you — I wanted Trump to be real, too. He is not.”
“Trump acts as if he’s a fictional character,” Cagielski explained. “But like Hercules, Donald Trump is a work of fiction.”
This is sad, the former Trump backer explained, because Americans have a right to be angry. She noted, “I was tired of the rhetoric in Washington. Negativity and stubbornness were at an all-time high.” But Trump is not the champion the “silent majority” is looking for.
Trump is not our champion. He would stab any one of his supporters in the back if it earned him a cent more in his pocket.
Cagielski mentioned Trump’s recent response to the terrorist attack in Pakistan on Easter Sunday, in which The Donald tweeted, “I alone can solve.” The former Trump staffer noted, “Superhero powers where ‘I alone can solve’ problems are not real. They do not exist for Batman, for Superman, for Wrestlemania and definitely not for Donald Trump.”
Another radical Islamic attack, this time in Pakistan, targeting Christian women & children. At least 67 dead,400 injured. I alone can solve
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016
Cagielski did not endorse another candidate, but argued that Trump supporters should back someone else, for their own good, for the country’s benefit, and even to help Trump himself. This was more an intervention than an endorsement.
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