This One Tweet Explains Why Kellyanne Conway's Trump Jr. Defense Is So Wrong

On Monday, July 10, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and CNN's New Day to defend the president's son, Donald Trump Jr.

The interviews were regarding revelatory information released about Donald Trump Jr.'s contacts with Russians during the campaign, originally reported by The New York Times over the weekend.

Following her on-air media appearances, Conway tweeted the following statement addressing CNN anchor Christopher Cuomo, saying she wanted to focus the conversation on America:

(While we're on the subject: What's going on with this lone quotation mark? And "me pal"? What is even happening in this tweet?!?)

Twitter was not having it, and neither were the hosts during Conway's appearances on Monday.

In her spot on CNN, Conway said, "Aren't you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed, that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America?"

On GMA, host George Stephanopoulos showed Conway footage from December 2016 when she flat-out denied any such conversations between the Donald Trump campaign and Russians.

Though Conway says she wants to "talk about America," this one tweet explains why avoiding the Russia conversation is a bad, bad idea:

First, Conway doesn't have a whole lot of leverage in saying she just wants to "talk about America" and avoid the topic of Russia entirely. Her previous statements, as Stephanopoulos showed, only come back to bite her. (For reference, this is far from the first time she's appearance on-air recently to defend information brought to light about the Russia investigation.)

Second, as Twitter user Alex Leo points out above, Conway's insistence on not talking about Russia is unfortunate timing, to put it politely.

Over the weekend and on Monday, Trump tweeted multiple times about Russia and President Vladimir Putin. For something that White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus called "a big nothing burger," Trump and his son Donald Jr. are saying an awful lot about it.

It's PR 101: Stay on message, and make sure everyone is on the same message. Mixing tactics doesn't go over too well when you're defending the president's son. While Conway would love to get back to talking about the United States, she's getting undermined by her own team.

There appears to be little, if any, coordination between members of the Trump administration and its media outfit on what to say or not say about Russia, and when. Much as Conway seems to abhor the idea, Russia is something she can't just sidestep.