Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Every four years, Harvard University\u2019s Institute of Politics has hosted a panel discussion with the winning and losing managers of each presidential campaign. This year, that joint discussion won\u2019t take place. In fact, the Trump side might not end up participating at all.<\/p>\n
For almost half a century, the institute, a branch of Harvard\u2019s Kennedy School of Government, has hosted its campaign managers conference in the weeks following each presidential election. The IOP bills the quadrennial event as a \u201cfirst draft of history\u201d \u2014 an opportunity for journalists to grill the chief architects of pivotal campaign decisions, and for operatives from both parties to respond to one another.<\/p>\n
That won\u2019t be happening this year.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, there will be a \u201clook back\u201d discussion, but only featuring one half of the 2020 campaign: the Democrats. But a parallel effort to invite former aides to Donald Trump for a separate event is foundering over scheduling problems, amid internal worries of a backlash over hosting allies of the former president.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s invitation-only virtual event <\/a>includes conversations with former Biden campaign officials \u2014 including Jen O\u2019Malley Dillon, Kate Bedingfield and Mike Donilon \u2014 on the Democratic primary and the general election, a \u201cDemocratic Primary Campaign Managers Roundtable\u201d with at least nine campaign managers from losing Democratic campaigns and a panel on the Democratic convention that includes operatives Anita Dunn and Stephanie Cutter.<\/p>\n Only a very small number of students are being allowed to view the Saturday session, and such access is being determined by a lottery. Just like in 2012 and 2016, audio will be released of the Democratic event but a date hasn\u2019t been set for release of it.<\/p>\n \u201cDates for the IOP\u2019s conversation with President Trump\u2019s advisors and Republican Party officials will be announced in the coming weeks,\u201d said an IOP invitation sent to Harvard Democrats obtained by POLITICO. <\/p>\n \u201cIt will not be open to the public nor additional journalists and as of today we have not made any announcements about our plans,\u201d Mark Gearan, the IOP\u2019s director, wrote on Monday in an internal Kennedy School email invitation obtained by POLITICO. He called it a \u201creimagined\u201d conference this year. <\/p>\n At least three top former Trump campaign officials have been invited to a future unscheduled session, according to a person close to the IOP: campaign manager Bill Stepien, communications director Tim Murtaugh and pollster Tony Fabrizio, who told POLITICO he had been invited but that \u201cno time or date yet\u201d had been scheduled and his \u201cparticipation would be dependent on my availability.\u201d <\/p>\n Stepien and Murtaugh didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment when asked if they planned to go.<\/p>\n \u201cIn April, we invited several senior officials from both the Biden and Trump campaigns to share their perspectives on the 2020 election,\u201d Gearan said in a statement. \u201cIn an effort to create a more accurate and substantive conversation on the campaign cycle, we decided to give both campaigns more time to share their perspectives. As we have for nearly 50 years, each conversation will be transcribed and compiled into a book released later this year. We are grateful to have scheduled times with the Biden team and hope advisers to President Trump will confirm their participation later this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s questioning of the 2020 election results by raising false claims of voter fraud and the Jan. 6 insurrection, along with the Covid-19 pandemic, has complicated the institute\u2019s usual planning. But a person familiar with the matter also said the holdup has to do with scheduling and getting affirmative answers from some Trump campaign officials. <\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that they\u2019re not participating raises the question of: Is it because participation would mean they\u2019re accepting the results of the election, which would not sit well with the former president?\u201d the person close to the IOP said. <\/p>\n Brad Parscale, who was Trump\u2019s first campaign manager on the 2020 campaign but left before the convention, told POLITICO he hadn\u2019t been invited, and Justin Clark, who was Trump\u2019s deputy campaign manager, said he also hasn\u2019t been invited. Mike Reed, a spokesman for the RNC, said he had \u201cno indication they have reached out to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Four and a half years ago, the IOP hosted a two-day conference<\/a> on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2016, with Republican and Democratic campaign managers, which at one point devolved into a shouting match between the two sides after Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri accused the Trump campaign of fomenting racism. <\/p>\n \u201cIf providing a platform for white supremacists makes me a brilliant tactician, I am proud to have lost,\u201d Palmieri said,<\/a> referring to former Trump aide Steve Bannon, who did not attend the conference. \u201cI would rather lose than win the way you guys did.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellyanne Conway, who was Trump\u2019s third and final campaign manager in 2016, hit back by saying: \u201cDo you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform?\u201d <\/p>\n Palmieri responded by saying Conway had. To which Conway replied: \u201cDo you think you could have just had a decent message for white, working-class voters? How about, it\u2019s Hillary Clinton, she doesn\u2019t connect with people? How about, they have nothing in common with her? How about, she doesn\u2019t have an economic message?\u201d<\/p>\n The 2016 conference also featured a dinner panel where Jeff Zucker was heckled by top aides from a number of unsuccessful Republican campaigns, who accused the CNN chief of granting Trump too much unfiltered air time.<\/p>\n The makeup of this year\u2019s conference has been \u201cvery much debated\u201d within the institute, according to a person familiar with the discussions \u2014 with some participants expressing concern about the potential backlash to Harvard from hosting Trump officials. <\/p>\n Harvard\u2019s IOP has been the subject of controversy in the past for its dealings with Trump allies. Six days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Doug Elmendorf removed<\/a> Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) from the IOP\u2019s Senior Advisory Committee after she stoked false claims of voter fraud. Stefanik, a 2006 Harvard graduate, had been the subject of a petition signed by hundreds of people affiliated with Harvard demanding the university eject her from the committee.<\/p>\n