I thought the White House would ignore Haley’s light but noteworthy jab at Trump over this morning’s tweet, figuring it was weak enough that they wouldn’t want to fight about it.

But here comes Kellyanne to punch back after all.

Was this a freelance thing or did POTUS put her up to it? Or, maybe, did she not want The Other Conway to be the only one with a say about this on Twitter today?

Here was Haley’s tweet, if you missed it earlier:

This is so unnecessary. 🙄

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 2, 2019

And here’s Conway not only replying, but hinting that she’d prefer to have Mike Pence as VP instead of certain other people who shall remain nameless:

THIS is so unnecessary
Trump-PENCE2020 https://t.co/wopDdCWRwR

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) August 2, 2019

Hoo boy. As for “Mr. Kellyanne Conway,” who’s been on an unholy anti-Trump tear on Twitter today even by his usual standards, he seems to know which side of history is the right one and his better half clearly isn’t on it:

Come on out, Nikki, the water’s warm. Be on the right side of history. Be on the right side. pic.twitter.com/MIjuUPSHtN

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 2, 2019

Kellyanne’s tweet followed his by about 90 minutes. Did George’s insistence in picking sides publicly in the Trump/Haley spat force Mrs. Conway to follow suit?

The funny thing about all this is that Trump’s jab at Elijah Cummings over his house getting robbed turned out not to be the grossest thing he’s tweeted today:

Kim Jong Un and North Korea tested 3 short range missiles over the last number of days. These missiles tests are not a violation of our signed Singapore agreement, nor was there discussion of short range missiles when we shook hands. There may be a United Nations violation, but..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019

…..Chairman Kim does not want to disappoint me with a violation of trust, there is far too much for North Korea to gain – the potential as a Country, under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, is unlimited. Also, there is far too much to lose. I may be wrong, but I believe that……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019

….Chariman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country, and only the United States, with me as President, can make that vision come true. He will do the right thing because he is far too smart not to, and he does not want to disappoint his friend, President Trump!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019

A “great and beautiful vision”? Headline: TRUMP ENDORSES JUCHE.

It’ll be the diplomatic achievement of the century if Trump’s personal charm offensive towards Kim Jong Un ends in denuclearization, proof that the highest-stakes international diplomacy can succeed with the same methods a developer would use to butter up the zoning guy at City Hall for a permit. Whereas it might be the diplomatic disaster of the century if Kim exploits Trump’s charm offensive to string him along with diplomacy while the North quietly expands its nuclear arsenal (and ICBM production?). The longer this drags on, the fewer options Trump will have when it fails. If he was reluctant to go to war with a regime armed with, say, 30 nukes and questionable long-range missiles, how willing will he be when it’s 60 nukes and the long-range delivery systems are more reliable? We’re negotiating with a hostage-taker who’s using the negotiation period to make himself less vulnerable to intervention.

Anyway, back on topic. On a scale of one to 10, with one representing Kellyanne Conway and 10 representing George Conway, how antagonistic towards Trump is Nikki Haley likely to be by 2024? I’d guess a three or four, around the same range Anthony Scarmucci, another administration hand turned occasional critic, is:

Cabinet members and White House staffers are privately concerned about President Trump’s racially divisive tweets but are afraid to confront him, said Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, in an interview for the Yahoo News “Skullduggery” podcast…

“If the president is now surrounded by people that are not going to tell him the truth, and they’re gonna confirm his biases, which may not be correct, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Scaramucci said. He called Republicans who won’t speak out against Trump’s tweets “fraidy cats.”…

“They know that it’s not the right thing,” he said. “The president likes to double down on stuff and he never likes to apologize, but down deep, he’s got to know too because he’s really not a racist.”

Here’s Trump being asked about the Cummings tweet today and pretending that he was in earnest when he wrote “too bad!”, exactly as expected.

President Trump on tweet regarding Rep. Cummings: "I know his house was robbed and I thought that was too bad…that was really not meant as a wise guy tweet." pic.twitter.com/eHpMLiez9o

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 2, 2019