As the Democratic National Convention prepared for Night 2, the formerly married and currently politically divided George and Kellyanne Conway were debating each other — live on Instagram — with their daughter Claudia acting as moderator.
It went about as well as you’d expect.
“This is why I divorced you,” Kellyanne told George at one point, summing up the spirit of the event.
It was a battle of Conway vs. Conway, moderated by Conway, though Claudia wasn’t exactly an unbiased referee. “I know when you’re on Fox News, they don’t correct you, but I do,” Claudia told her mother at another point. (Kellyanne shot back: “That’s just rude.”)
Meanwhile, George was firmly working the ref. “Claudia is brat,” he said at the end of the interview, the new compliment of the summer, in reference to a recent CharliXCX album.
Kellyanne is, of course, one of Trump’s top confidants. She served as his 2016 campaign manager, has remained close to the former president, and rumors are swirling that Trump may bring her aboard his latest campaign.
George was once a Republican lawyer, but he firmly ditched the GOP when it went full MAGA. Since then, he’s co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and dilligently bashes Trump on just about every platform out there.
Claudia — a credentialed content creator at the DNC — has already lived many lives at just 19 years old. She made waves during the COVID-19 pandemic for her snarky political social media posts and her relentless ridicule of her parents. But you also might know her as an American Idol contestant and Playboy Bunny.
During the wide-ranging conversation, Claudia moderated her parents through some of the most contentious topics of the election: Ukraine, abortion, the economy and many other hot-button issues. They litigated recent presidential polls. They hashed out recent developments in the Trump and Harris campaigns. And things got testy — think uncomfortable-Thanksgiving-dinner testy, but on camera.
Echoing recent sentiments from other top Republicans, Kellyanne repeatedly suggested Trump should run a policy-centric campaign. Although she stopped short of criticizing the former president’s current freewheeling approach — on Saturday, he claimed he’s more attractive than Vice President Kamala Harris, and last month he said Harris “turned Black,” which Claudia pointed out — Kellyanne still acknowledged that “policy contrasts are important.”
“He and his running mate have a little bit more mojo this week and the end of last week than we have seen before in that they’re bracketing this convention and Kamala Harris revealing price gouging plans and price controls, et cetera,” she said.
But, Kellyanne added: “You don’t get those policies without the personality. You can’t really separate the two.”
Just in case her thoughts on how the campaign should run weren’t clear, however, she later said: “I’m always for more insights, fewer insults. I’m for policy contrast. That’s how he’s gonna win.”
For a few minutes, the trio actually made news about Kellyanne’s future plans with the Trump campaign. (George actually pointed out — in real time — that “Claudia just made news!”)
Claudia asked her mother about 2016 Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s recent addition to the former president’s 2024 team.
Before Claudia could finish her question, George wisecracked that Lewandowski’s appointment “should help with women.”
Ignoring the remark, Kellyanne explained that Trump is looking to recreate the 2016 magic with Lewandowski’s hire.
“In golf, there’s something called ‘the yips,’ and that means you’re superstitious,” Kellyanne said, incorrectly. “You use the same wedge in this sand trap, you wear the same hat. You’re very superstitious. So I know he’s superstitious about having as many people around him as helped him win before.”
For Kellyanne — who just controversially became a registered foreign agent to work on behalf of Ukraine — she said she remains “very close to the former president.”
“We talk frequently,” she said.
But Kellyanne also claimed that her “best and highest use” is probably on the outside of the campaign. Claudia was not content to leave it at that. She pried at whether her mom had any plans to rejoin the Trump campaign.
“I may,” Kellyanne said when pressed. “I’d have to work that out with Fox News.”
If the political takes were hot during the 45-minute ordeal, the familial burns were scorching. At just about every opportunity, George and Kellyanne took multiple shots at each other. When George tried to steer the conversation toward Trump’s 34 criminal convictions, Kellyanne hit back — hard.
“That’s how everyone knows you,” she said, “Kellyanne’s husband who doesn’t like Trump.”
The interview had all the makings of a reality TV show audition.
Throughout the interview, Claudia also gave both of her parents withering looks. George routinely smirked into the camera as mother and daughter duked it out. Meanwhile, Kellyanne beamed like she was in the spin room, loyally defending her former boss.
Like any good interviewer, Claudia repeatedly begged her parents to “just answer the question.”
As the family argued and reminisced about the good ol’ days — Remember when George wore a MAGA hat on 2016 election day? Kellyanne does — Claudia hoped her family’s discourse could provide a model for others to work through their differences.
“It’s very important to facilitate these conversations, whether you agree with somebody or not,” she said. “And I think that’s what makes our democracy work, if we let it work.”
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Riley Rogerson is a reporter at NOTUS.