Conservative explains why Trump’s former campaign manager was part of 'Team Coup' — not 'Team Normal'

On Monday, June 13 — the second day in a series of public hearings being held by the January 6 select committee — a deposition by former Donald Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien was featured. Stepien, during the deposition, said that after the 2020 presidential election, “There were two groups: my team and Rudy’s team.”

Stepien described his group as “Team Normal,” depicting former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his allies as being unapologetically aggressive in promoting Trump’s claim that the election had been stolen from him. But Never Trump conservative Tim Miller, in a scathing article published by The Bulwark on June 14, slams Stepien’s attempt to clean up his image — arguing that he was part of “Team Coup,” not “Team Normal” in 2020.

“Bill Stepien testified that he advised the president to give a measured statement about how it’s ‘too early to tell’ (on Election Night),” Miller writes. “He wanted Trump to be dignified about how the team was ‘proud of the race we ran’ and close by offering that he would ‘have more to say’ after the votes came in. LOLOLOL. Are you shitting me, Bill? You thought Donald J. Trump was going to be gracious?”

Miller continues, “That was never going to happen…. After Trump rejected Stepien’s ‘advice’ and went in front of the cameras to allege a ‘fraud on the American public,’ what did Stepien do? During videotaped testimony to the January 6 Committee, Bill said that in the days after the election, he ‘stepped away’ from the crazy because he is ‘honest,’ and thus couldn’t be a part of it.”

The Never Trumper goes on to say that Stepien was hardly honorable in the weeks after the 2020 election.

“Bill and ‘Team Normal’ did their stepping away ‘behind the scenes,’ as Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reported,” Miller writes. “Stepien ‘didn’t want it widely known’ that he disagreed with the party line. So, in other words, ‘Team Normal’ wasn’t functionally any different from the ‘Ultra-Krakens.’ They just didn’t want to get their hands dirty. They had professional reputations to keep.”

These days, Stepien is working with Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney in a GOP congressional primary in that state.

“Bill Stepien wasn’t on ‘Team Normal,’” Miller declares. “He was on ‘Team Coup.’ After the election, he just decided to move back to the jump seats rather than keep riding shotgun, so as to protect his career.”

Miller adds, “If you need any more evidence this is the case, do you know what job Bill Stepien took, after the crazy he presided over had passed? Stepien is now consulting for Harriet Hageman, the fellow confederate, who was a former Never Trumper but who is now primarying Liz Cheney for the crime of speaking truths that she, and Stepien, both know. In Stepien’s view, the bad actor that needed to be punished wasn’t Rudy and the rest of Team Crazy. It was Liz Cheney, for holding his manhood cheap, and saying publicly everything he knew to be true in private. For being not only on Team Normal, but on Team Courage and Team Democracy.”

Miller wraps up his article by stressing that Stepien is hardly a profile in courage.

“Stepien had the opportunity to do what Cheney did,” Miller explains. “He could’ve lived up to his obligations, and demonstrated that he was the honest professional he thinks himself to be. But he chose not to. He chose Team Coup.”