Who is George Conway? Why Donald Trump is feuding with a top adviser’s husband in public

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The feud between Donald Trump and the husband of one of his top advisers has ruptured into a new era of vitriol, with the president calling George Conway a “stone cold LOSER” and a “husband from hell”.

The latest insults on the president’s Twitter feed, comes after Mr Conway — a prominent lawyer who once clerked on the US Second District Court of Appeals — has repeatedly questioned the president’s mental health and fitness to serve the American people. He has raised those concerns even as his wife, Kellyanne Conway, holds a prominent position in the administration.

The animosity has been building for nearly two years now, after Mr Conway turned down a gig in the Justice Department.

Here’s what you need to know.

The latest bout started with “Mr Apple”. And the Russia investigation.

That is to say, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who Mr Trump erroneously referred to as “Tim Apple” during a White House meeting.

The slip of the tongue saw ridicule heaped on the president, with jokes on late night shows and Twitter spreading far and wide. But, instead of taking the jokes and moving on, Mr Trump pushed back.

At first, he told Republican donors in Florida that he had not even mistakenly referred to Mr Cook as “Tim Apple” — it was all fake news, even though the remarks were broadcast live and preserved in recordings.

He then said on Twitter that he did, in fact, say it. But, he meant to use the wrong name in order to save some time.

Mr Conway, in response, called the president a liar.

“Have we ever seen this degree of brazen, pathological mendacity in American public life?” Mr Conway tweeted. “One day he makes a harmless slip of the tongue, something any mentally balanced person would laugh off. But instead he lies about it. He denies what the world can see on videotape. Even his donors and supporters wonder, what is wrong with him? Why would he feel compelled to tell such an absurd lie?”

In separate tweets, Mr Conway attacked the president for claiming that the sentencing of Mr Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort exonerated the him from collusion with Russia.

“The judge says, in open court, that Manafort’s lawyers’ ‘no collusion’ ‘mantra’ was patently ridiculous because it was irrelevant to the charges at hand—not that there was no proof of collusion, just that whether there was or wasn’t was irrelevant to the proceedings at hand,” Mr Conway said. “And yet he lies again—a blatant lie—about what the judge said in open court.”

The Trump team did not appreciate the attacks.

After his comments online, Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale suggested Mr Conway was just upset because he did not get a chance to bask in the Trump limelight.

“We all know that [Mr Trump] turned down Mr Kellyanne Conway for a job he desperately wanted. He barely worked [at the Justice Department] and was either fired/quit, didn’t want the scrutiny? Now he hurts his wife because he is jealous of her success. POTUS doesn’t even know him!” Mr Parscale tweeted.

Mr Trump himself took notice, and quote-tweeted: “A total loser!”

And then, Mr Trump made things personal: “George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!”

Mr Conway responded: “You. Are. Nuts.”

He also included some tweets detailing signs of narcissistic personality syndrome and antisocial personality disorder.

What does Ms Conway think of all this?

Generally speaking, Ms Conway has been pretty tight lipped when it comes to the criticism her husband has lobbed at her boss. The White House has generally stayed out of the bizarre circumstances as well, at least before the recent spat.

Ms Conway did, however, tell the Washington Post in December that she thought her husband’s comments were “disrespectful”. She continued to say his comments were “a violation of basic decency, certainly, if not marital vows”.

After the comment, she reportedly asked the Post reporter to attribute it to someone familiar with her relationship, but the request was declined.

How long has this been happening?

Mr Conway posted hist first critical post of the president on 5 June 2017, just after he turned down a Justice Department position to stay in the private sector.

At first, Mr Conway indicated that he supported the president, but questioned the usefulness of Mr Trump’s Twitter habits.

But he eventually became more pointed, and at one point said he was “flabbergasted” to read a report that Mr Trump was considering how to use his pardon power to save himself from the Russia investigation.

He later criticised Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and reportedly coached anti-Trump writers. He also published an essay in support of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose team is investigating Russian influence on the 2016 campaign.

The issues have run the gamut.

Mr Conway really hasn’t held much back, it seems. He has attacked Mr Trump following reports that he was looking to re-imagine birthright citizenship policies, and even went after him during the Supreme Court nomination of now-justice Brett Kavanaugh.