Kellyanne Conway: Dems should "move forward" from election, even though she and Trump won't

Conway was giving an interview to Ainsley Earhardt, one of the hosts of Fox & Friends, the show that often inspires Donald Trump’s absurd and inaccurate tweets.

“Almost six months after Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes,” Conway said, “you have people still trying to make it go away.”

But in the course of her attack, Conway invoked the election herself, referring to Hillary Clinton as someone “who lost to Donald Trump handily.” Clinton, of course, handily beat Trump in the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

EARHARDT: A lot of protests over the weekend, especially that one in Berkley. Did you get a chance to see that video?

CONWAY: I did.

EARHARDT: People are so angry.

CONWAY: You know Ainsley, almost 6 months after Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes, you have people still trying to make it go away. And this is the president, this is the people’s house, this is their government, and the president made clear from those early morning hours on November 9th, he was going to be the president for all Americans, he’s making good on that promise. […]

I would love to hear the new DNC chairman Tom Perez, Bernie Sanders, the Democratic senator from Vermont, who are going out on the road starting today, and I would love to hear Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump handily, I’d love for them to come forward as leaders of the Democratic Party and tell people to stop. They have a right to express their First Amendment beliefs, but at the same time, violence is not going to get us anywhere, and I would love to hear Democratic leaders of the party, instead of still talking about the election, move forward and help us negotiate, help us get some Democratic votes on tax reform, on health care reform, and infrastructure.

Conway’s pattern follows Trump, who often invokes the election results to argue that people should not march or protest against him. While promoting conspiracy theories about who “paid” for the Tax March, Trump said, “the election is over.” Evading ongoing concerns about his failure to release his tax returns, he said, “I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College!”

Trump also invoked his win in the electoral college in order to deflect from reporting on his ties with Russia and the ongoing probes into that relationship, tweeting, “The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign. Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!”

As is often the case, Conway and Trump want to have their cake and eat it, too: They say Americans should not protest his failing presidency, because he won the election, but they also insist that his electoral win should shut down all controversies and inquiries.

It does not work that way. Protests and debate will continue in America, regardless of the election’s outcomes. A successful campaign does not negate protests, as Republicans who protested under President Obama can testify. Nor is winning an election a persuasive counterargument to serious concerns and investigations into a presidency.

Conway and her boss will continue to face opposition at every turn, and they will not be able to shut anyone up just because he won the presidency.