Alice Stewart is a Fall 2020 Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She is a CNN political commentator, a contributor on National Public Radio, and an Emmy Award-winning journalist. She worked as communications director for the presidential campaigns of Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Rick Santorum, and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
Note: This interview was conducted in October 2020, before the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election was known.
Harvard Political Review: You’ve worked with conservative candidates and Republican organizations in the past, but you presently work at CNN. How does that role reconcile with your political beliefs, given that CNN is generally considered to be a left-leaning media source?
Alice Stewart: My role at CNN is to be a conservative commentator; I provide my perspective on the politics of the day from my conservative viewpoint. There are different facets of conservatism these days. There are people who are supportive of Donald Trump, and there are never-Trumpers. I support the president, but there are a lot of things I don’t agree with regarding his tone and demeanor, and I call him out on it when necessary. I don’t think everything that he does is great, and I don’t think everything that he does is bad. My position at CNN is to be a conservative voice yet an independent thinker. I’m not a Kool-Aid drinker; I’m not a never-Trumper, and I didn’t check my common sense and decency at the door when I voted for this president. I bring a perspective that I think CNN appreciates. CNN has been great to me and certainly great about providing voices on both sides. I’m on panels that get quite contentious, but one thing I greatly appreciate about CNN and its hosts is that they know I’ve worked on four presidential campaigns, several gubernatorial races, and that I’ve been a deputy secretary of state. They know I have “street cred,” and they know that I know what I’m talking about. The hosts at CNN appreciate my perspective and often simply want to talk about strategy and messaging. They use my experience as well as my perspective that shapes my commentary.
HPR: Going back to President Trump’s demeanor — you’ve written about political discourse and incivility. Keeping in mind the presidential debates between Trump and Biden, why does civility matter?
AS: Civility in politics matters for a lot of reasons. You certainly get more things done when you are civil and you have conversations with people. We’re in a situation where we need a COVID-19 relief plan passed. I’d like to see a Supreme Court justice confirmed. There are a lot of issues that are facing members of Congress that won’t get done if politicians are not civil to each other. Do they have to be nice on the debate stage? No. But there should be a respectable airing of conflicting viewpoints and policies on the debate stage so the American people can make an informed decision regarding their vote. A lot of things can be said about the debate commission and about how the debates were handled, but the rules were there for a reason: to give both candidates time to answer questions and interject to hold their opponent’s feet to the fire if they are saying something not factually accurate. I think a lot more respectful demeanor on the debate stage would be helpful for voters.
HPR: Does this incivility reflect a new trend in politics, or is this specific to our current president or current candidates?
AS: Trump has a different style than anyone else that has ever been in politics. There are a lot of people who are put off by that style, and there are a lot of people who are appreciative of it. Some people look at Trump as the voice they’ve never had in Washington. They look at him as someone who will fight for them, and they look at him as someone who won’t go along with the status quo in Washington. Is that the way I would do it? No. But that’s the way he does it, and his supporters appreciate it. I get berated often for how I can support someone with that kind of behavior. I say that I’m voting for a president, not a partner or a pastor. He’s the president of the United States, and I support his policies.
HPR: Some say that Trump has deviated the GOP from the otherwise more conservative path that it was taking before. Do you think that’s true?
AS: No, if you look at the policies that Trump has endorsed and embraced, and the support he has from evangelicals, it’s really hard to make a case that he has abandoned conservative norms. His support for religious liberties, for conservative-leaning SCOTUS justices, for the sanctity of life, for Israel, for conservative fiscal policies, for limited government — these are policies that conservatives have long held dear, and he is carrying that mantle. It’s easy to be distracted by his personality and not focus on the policies, but there’s a reason that he has the support of social evangelicals and conservatives, and that’s because he’s following through with the conservative promises that he’s made.
I’m not a Trump apologist and I don’t give him a pass on everything, but in terms of the policies that are important to social conservatives, he is certainly a much better advocate for my policies than Joe Biden. I’ve fought hard and put my life on hold for several years to work on campaigns and leave my family and friends to support strong social conservatives that would govern in a way that people wouldn’t question their tactics. However, those candidates didn’t win the nomination, and the Republican Party chose someone else. It’s my responsibility to get behind the nominee of the party.
HPR: What would the future of the GOP look like if Biden wins? Has Trump changed the trajectory of the GOP for future elections?
AS: Absolutely, there are a lot of people in the Republican Party — the never-Trumpers, the Lincoln Project people — who will vote for Joe Biden, though they are still Republicans. If [Trump] loses, the GOP might reevaluate its strategies and see what should be done moving forward. The GOP learned from mistakes in the 2012 election, and focused on making those changes in 2016. If Trump were to not win, the GOP would have to do some serious searching for what went wrong and how to get back on track.
Image Source: Harvard Institute of Politics
