Kellyanne Conway is one of the favorite heroines of the American press, who appears on the newspaper pages almost as often as her boss. "A breath of air" for the Republicans and "restless upstart" - whatever they called her! But if there is one thing that no one can argue with, it is that without Kellyanne, the famous billionaire would hardly have been able to occupy the Oval Office. The President himself, commenting on Conway's new appointment, said: “Kellyanne was my closest advisor, as well as a strategist who played a critical role in my victory. She is a tireless advocate of my course and knows how to correctly convey our ideas to voters. I'm glad she will be part of my team at the White House."
For thirty years, Kellyanne made a living by teaching bloomer Republicans how to communicate with female audiences. In the summer of 2016, she entered Trump's campaign headquarters at the right time, including to help him settle the scandal surrounding his long-standing sexist statements about women. Kelliann became Trump's third campaign manager and the only woman to hold such a high position in the history of the Republican Party.
And by being invited to enter the White House as an adviser to the president, Conway has secured her reputation as one of the most influential (and highly paid) women in American politics. In fact, she has been able to maintain such a flattering status for a whole year, despite the numerous quibbles of Trump's opponents. But Conway never gives up: her path to one of the most popular political strategists in the United States was already too thorny to just leave him because of several objectionable comments about her.
Blueberry Farm Girl
Kellyanne Conway was born into a poor family in Hammonton, New Jersey, 20 miles from Philadelphia. Her father left her as a child, and her mother, grandmother, and two unmarried aunts were engaged in raising young Kellyanne. Conway herself recalls that portraits of presidents were never hung in their house, but the walls were literally replete with reproductions of The Last Supper, as well as photographs of the Pope. She confessed to journalists more than once: “I definitely had to become a democrat, because in the 70s four Italian Catholic women were involved in my upbringing”.
As a teenager, Kellianne worked on a blueberry farm every summer for 8 years. It was this work, as the political strategist admits, that instilled in her such qualities as diligence and hard work. At the age of 20, she even won the blueberry harvesting championship, and since then she prefers to win in everything she takes.
After earning a BA in Political Science from the prestigious Trinity University in Washington, Kellianne Conway solidified her academic excellence by studying at Oxford and then graduating from George Washington University Law School. By the way, during Trump's election campaign, she often reminded reporters that, unlike her, her boss's main rival, Hillary Clinton (who also received her doctorate in law at the same time), could not pass the bar exam the first time. The injection may not have turned out very beautiful, but who said that the pre-election races should be quiet and peaceful?
By the way, it was in her student days that she realized that she was much closer to republican views. Kelliann has repeatedly said that in her youth, after hearing one of the campaign speeches of Ronald Reagan, she forever understood that she liked the "sublime, inspiring, but at the same time slightly hooligan" rhetoric of the Republicans.
Of course, such a brilliant education immediately provided her with an amazing career. She has worked for several consulting companies, and in 1995 even founded her own firm that conducts opinion polls for the richest and most influential corporations in America. Her sharp mind, lively manner of communication, as well as very attractive appearance (which is also important) made her one of the favorite heroines of the American media. Moreover, in 2005, she herself managed to try herself as an author: together with Celinda Lake (and she, by the way, she is a political adviser to the Democrats) Kellianne Conway wrote the book “What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Gradually Erasing Political, Racial, Class and religious boundaries are changing our way of life."
During the last election campaign, Kellyanne's firm actively supported and advised Trump's Republican rival Ted Cruz, but after Trump knocked him out of the race, Conway entered the billionaire's campaign headquarters, and in August 2016 became the head of his campaign.
Trump Charmer
Kellyanne's influence on Donald Trump became obvious to everyone literally as soon as she headed his campaign headquarters. The press immediately noticed that the billionaire's rhetoric had become much softer, and, of course, did not hesitate to accuse Conway of literally forcing her boss to read prepared speeches from a teleprompter. Kellyanne herself later admitted that it was precisely because of such attacks and reproaches that she "whispered the right words in his ear" and did not want to take on such a position. But since I have already entered, we must do everything to win, even if the polls do not bode well.
It happened that of the entire huge Trump campaign, only Kellyanne kept a cold mind and a charming smile every time her boss again made anti-populist calls or behaved incorrectly during a debate. So, during the debates at Hofstra University, Trump was rather calm for the first 20 minutes and made constructive criticism of Clinton, but a little later he again "broke" and began to boast that he had not paid taxes for many years and that he still considers the 1996 Miss Universe winner "Miss Piggy". Then the entire headquarters decided that nothing would save the situation, and only Kellyann managed to smooth out all the corners: she diverted the attention of journalists from the scandalous verbal attacks of her boss, concentrating onthat Trump did not follow the lead of envious people and did not start a conversation about the treason of Bill Clinton Hillary. “He was restrained, he was a real gentleman,” Conway told reporters, “and restraint is the true virtue, the quality of a real president. I think that today many voters have seen and appreciated this, especially women."
In addition to this episode, Kellyanne often "explained" to reporters exactly what Trump meant when he spoke out against migrants and called for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. According to her, Donald Trump is not at all so hostile against migrants: he is only speaking in the name of justice and security. Later, having already won the election, Trump said that he did not want to expel all migrants from the States at all - he only called for the deportation of those who were in the country illegally.
Kellyanne played her role, among other things, in the story of the possible appointment of Republican Mitt Romney (during the election race he actively criticized Trump) to the post of US Secretary of State. After Kellianne learned that her boss was seriously considering Romney's candidacy for the post of head of the US Foreign Office, she immediately made a splash in all the media, as well as on social networks. Conway told CNN that while she would support any presidential election, she doubts Romney's competence. A little later, newspapers were full of headlines that Trump himself was allegedly "enraged" to learn about the behavior of his subordinate. The president himself, however, immediately told reporters that he completely trusts Kelliann and that she spoke with journalists with his permission. “The main thing is that she admitted that there is only one person,who will make the decision. She has always been a valuable employee for me, and this will continue,”the president commented.
By the way, he never appointed Mitt Romney as Secretary of State, opting for the oil magnate Rex Tillerson.
In the White House
Even before Trump officially took office, in an interview with The New Yorker, his new adviser said that on the day of the president's inauguration, she would turn 50. Before she started working with the billionaire, she promised her family to celebrate their anniversary in Italy. But now, having made the decision to move with her family to Washington, closer to the new office, she will obviously celebrate her birthday in the capital. She herself jokingly commented then: "In any case, I will win."
Time has shown that the woman was not cunning.
Trump honored Conway for his dedication to his course - in the end, even the future position of the president-elect invited her to simply … choose. For him, the main thing is that Keliann is always within a second's reach. Actually, the same was important for the latter - that is why the woman chose the unpretentious and, nevertheless, the highest position of the general counselor. In reality, however, this position included almost all possible duties: from past "incantations" to those performed by any image maker, press secretary, and even a security guard.
By the way, about the last two. Even on her birthday (which, we recall, coincided with the inauguration), Keliann did not forget about her informal duties. During the evening Freedom Ball on January 20, several newspaper reporters noticed that the two invited men had started a squabble. True, something else was more interesting in her: as soon as the gentlemen began to wave their fists, a lady in a beautiful evening dress suddenly appeared between them, who began to quietly separate them, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. And when all her arguments were exhausted, she solved the problem radically: she herself hit everyone several times.
“Now I understand why Trump hired her,” comments followed on social media.
After the inauguration, all the media vied with each other to discuss the strange statement of the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, who confidently stated earlier that a record number of people had gathered to watch the inauguration ceremony. This, of course, was a lie, and it was Kelianne who was thrown to deal with its consequences. She succeeded, however, not very convincingly, since in her excuses Conway allowed herself to call Spicer's information "alternative facts." Since then, this phrase, along with Trump's "fake news", has become a famous Internet meme.
Later, the author of the scandalous Trump monograph Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff, will tell that on that day the presidential adviser just accidentally made a reservation, intending to say "alternative information" - in the sense that the White House representatives simply have additional information. And given that the entire book was written solely with the goal of "hammering the last nail", such a justifying amendment can be believed.
However, Calianne is no longer used to ridicule: over the next year, she was repeatedly accused of misrepresenting facts to please the president (deservedly in some places). But Conway stands firm - in contrast, by the way, from the already aforementioned Sean Spicer, who left office in the summer and trolled the president from the stage of the 2017 Emmy ceremony in the fall (read: "Making fun of Trump: stars are trolling the president").
And, perhaps, this is why the presidential advisor has unlimited access to the affairs of the boss and even entered the top employees with the highest salary (and this is in the wake of numerous layoffs in the presidential team). Yes, whatever you say, Donald Trump really knows how to appreciate loyalty.
Photo: Getty Images
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