Image via AP.

Donald Trump, the human equivalent to a hideously oppressive smell with no known provenance, has treated the United States to a masterclass in how not to hire a campaign manager. His newest, Kellyanne Conway, showed potential to be the least terrible of the three we’ve seen so far, but that potential has rapidly become dated.

In a 2013 roundtable with PBS regarding the Pentagon lifting the ban on women in combat, Conway, who took the brave stance of arguing that women should not be able to fill combat roles in the military, presciently reiterated the Trump campaign’s position on rape: it doesn’t happen to women who are strong enough.


“If we were physiologically—not mentally, emotionally, professionally equal to men—if we were physiologically as strong as men, rape would not exist. You would be able to defend yourself and fight him off,” she said during the discussion, even though rape had not once been brought up.

“She doesn’t know why I’m bringing up sexual assault and rape; this is why. We go into real wars with real anti-American, anti-women, enemies, thank you, who use rape and torture and who will use rape and torture of women to try to win the war.”


Her remarks were recirculated, according to CNN, by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, an anti-Trump super PAC.

“We cannot have a reality show in the White House,” said the PAC’s National Finance Director Francesca Lucia. “The stakes are just too high, especially for women.”