Another former Trump crony is hoping to make money from a White House tell-all and this time it’s campaign manager and “alternative facts” spin woman Kellyanne Conway.
Conway was instrumental in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and she remained a top advisor of the former president during his four years in office but, according to her new memoir, her job put a real strain on her marriage. Why? Because her husband, George Conway, couldn’t stand her boss and he wasn’t shy about hopping onto Twitter to let the world know it.
In excerpts from Conway’s book (via People), Trump’s henchwoman tries to excuse away her own complicity in playing babysitter to the tyrant-in-chief while skewering her husband for “cheating” on her by tweeting insults about Trump and his inner circle. No, really.
“George was spending chunks of time in New York at the firm, where he voluntarily went from partner to an of-counsel role, spending his nights alone at our house in Alpine, New Jersey, 240 miles away from D.C.” Conway writes of the state of her marriage in 2018. “The numbers don’t lie. During this time, the frequency and ferocity of his tweets accelerated. Clearly, he was cheating by tweeting. I was having a hard time competing with his new fling.”
Conway also shares how her husband’s disapproval of a man who was actively separating families and putting kids in cages at the time also felt like a betrayal of their marriage vows.
“His daily deluge of insults-by-tweet against my boss violated our marriage vows to ‘love, honor, and cherish’ each other,” she continues. “On one side was my marriage and my husband. On the other was my job and my boss. I was able to keep these things separate and in perspective. George should have, too, but it seemed the flood of reaction and attention he was receiving was magnetic and irresistible.”
According to Conway, both Ivanka and Melania Trump went to bat for her during this very difficult time. Ivanka recommended the names of two couple’s therapists she thought the Conways should try, telling her father’s adviser, “I am in a family of Democrats. I get it.” (This comment referred to Ivanka’s in-laws and other Kushner relatives.) Meanwhile, Melania stood up for Conway against Trump after a handful of tweets from Mr. Conway disparaging the president left him angry and looking for someone to blame.
In another excerpt, Conway recalled this interaction: “‘Can you believe this?’ Trump said, referring to George’s recent eruptions. ‘This guy is nasty. He won’t stop. And it’s our Kellyanne. She’s my top person. She knows a lot, too! What are we going to do?’ Melania’s calm voice piped in immediately as my mouth closed and my eyes widened. ‘Donald,’ she said, ‘this is not her fault. And she is a big girl. Strong and confident.’ Melania wasn’t done. ‘We don’t control our husbands—and you don’t control us!’”
Weirdly enough, the Conways marriage seems to have survived the turmoil of the Trump years. Whether it makes it past this memoir’s sell date is another question.
(Via People)