Hours after the Donald Trump campaign announced that Trump had fired its top political advisor, Roger Stone, over email, the truth emerged. Instead, it appears that Stone actually had resigned from the campaign and was going quietly until the campaign announced that he had been fired.
Stone provided a resignation letter to the Washington Post and has gone on Twitter and CNN to say that he quit the Trump campaign. An email has also been obtained by Politico:
“I was proud to have played a role in the launch of your presidential campaign. Your message of ‘Make America Great Again’ harkened back to the Reagan era. Restoring national pride and bringing jobs back to America – your initial and still underlying message – is a solid conservative message. In fact, it catapulted you instantly into a commanding lead in the race…Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message…With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign.”
The former Nixon and Reagan advisor said that he disagreed with Trump’s feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Trump attacked Kelly on Friday on CNN when he said she was bleeding from her eyes and her “wherever.” While many have taken that comment to imply the Fox News anchor was on her period, Trump has since said he was referring to her nose.
Stone has also complained about Trump as a frontrunner. According to Politico, Stone told friends, “He is losing his grip on reality,” Stone told them. “He has these yes-men around him. And now he’s living in a parallel world.”
Stone was in some controversy himself this week as he attacked two figures of the media. He attacked CNN’s Ana Navarro and former CNN commentator Roland Martin and called them “quota hires.”