The Slatest

Former Trump Super PAC Director Writes Open Letter Explaining Why She’s Quitting Trump

“Let Trump Be Trump” was the strategy. Look where it got us.

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The former director of a pro-Donald Trump Super PAC officially defected from Team Trump on Monday with an essay on xoJane about how she lost faith in her candidate of choice. Stephanie Cegielski, a strategist and communications specialist, says she was brought in to run the Make America Great Again Super PAC last summer, but ultimately came to realize what everyone who hasn’t fallen under the Trump spell could sniff from the very beginning: Trump is wholly unprepared to be president and is only out for himself.

Cegielski paints a picture of a campaign and candidate that began with modest aspirations of hitting double digits in support, but later caught fire and began to believe its own hype. Here’s a sampling of what Cegielski has to say:

Even Trump’s most trusted advisors didn’t expect him to fare this well … the goal was to get The Donald to poll in double digits and come in second in delegate count. That was it. The Trump camp would have been satisfied to see him polling at 12% and taking second place to a candidate who might hold 50%. His candidacy was a protest candidacy … And I am now taking full responsibility for helping create this monster — and reaching out directly to those voters who, like me, wanted Trump to be the real deal …

I don’t think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don’t even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all. He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver’s seat, and nothing else matters. The Donald does not fail. The Donald does not have any weakness. The Donald is his own biggest enemy.

What was once Trump’s desire to rank second place to send a message to America and to increase his power as a businessman has nightmarishly morphed into a charade that is poised to do irreparable damage to this country if we do not stop this campaign in its tracks … He doesn’t want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House. He’s achieved that already and then some. If there is any question, take it from someone who was recruited to help the candidate succeed, and initially very much wanted him to do so. The hard truth is: Trump only cares about Trump.

Trump campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, issued this response to Cegielski:

This person was never employed by the Trump campaign. Evidently she worked for a Super PAC which Mr. Trump disavowed and requested the closure of via the FEC. She knows nothing about Mr. Trump or the campaign and her disingenuous and factually inaccurate statements in no way resemble any shred of truth. This is yet another desperate person looking for their fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is running for President because he is the only one who will Make America Great Again.

Read more Slate coverage of the 2016 campaign.