Long Before Trump, Kellyanne Conway Worked for Anti-Muslim and Anti-Immigrant Extremists
Conway’s firm, The Polling Company, conducted this poll for the Center for Security Policy, a think tank run by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration defense official. Gaffney is a right-wing extremist who frequently pushes wild conspiracy theories and has often been at odds with other conservative leaders. He’s claimed there is “mounting evidence” that President Barack Obama is a secret Muslim; alleged that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (Gaffney’s think tank claimed Abedin is one of six Muslim Brotherhood operatives working inside the Obama administration); and suggested the federal government, the media, and the financial sector have all been infiltrated by “Shariah-adherent” Muslims. (One of Gaffney’s Islamophobic themes is conflating radicalism with adherence to Islamic religious law).
Gaffney has also been part of Groundswell, a DC-based group of conservative advocates, which included Bannon, that has plotted strategies for injecting far-right messages into the national political discourse. Before joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon, as chairman of Breitbart News, hosted Gaffney on his daily radio show 29 times. Gaffney also has been a frequent columnist at Breitbart. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Gaffney “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes.” Gaffney is not part of Trump’s transition team, but he has expressed hope that his ideas will help guide the president-elect. He is a fringe figure, but his voice has been amplified in the age of Trump.
In June 2015, Conway appeared on Gaffney’s podcast, Secure Freedom Radio, to discuss the poll about American Muslims. “It’s very alarming to me that such a high number of individuals, Muslims living in the US, would say, ‘Well, we can have a choice,’” as to whether to follow Shariah law or US law, she told Gaffney. She expressed alarm that some respondents believed the religious practice of jihad had a violent component. (In mainstream Islam, jihad refers to efforts to support the faith, not violent actions.) She said her online survey had caught “over a quarter” of respondents “admitting…that this is not a personal peaceful struggle.”
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