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By Britt Nelson
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior counsellor, is the real deal.
Who would have thought that a girl from New Jersey who learned about life working on a blueberry farm would land a job as senior counselor to President-elect Donald Trump? Kellyanne Conway is a name to remember and she’s no actor on any silly West Wing TV drama starring Martin Sheen, she’s the real deal.
On Jan. 20 Conway will celebrate Trump’s inauguration as America’s 45th President and her 50th birthday. If there’s any single reason why Trump will be taking the oath of office, it’s Conway. She joined Trump’s team as campaign manager in August after Trump fired Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski last June. She’s the first woman to run a winning campaign for president. Before she boarded the Trump Train, his campaign was somewhat rudderless and news reports say Lewandowski had been hard to work with, lacked experience and Trump’s image needed a facelift.
Conway is no political novice having worked in advisory capacities for Congressman Jack Kemp, Sen. Fred Thompson, Vice President Dan Quayle, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and vice-president-elect Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. She also is a regular commentator on mainstream media news shows produced by ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, PBS and CNN, according to Wikipedia. Not to mention the successful business she founded in public opinion polling and understanding women’s issues.
What is there not to like about Conway – pretty blonde with a law degree, a lawyer husband and four kids. She learned how to work hard on a blueberry farm during the summers while going to high school and college.
“Everything I learned about life and business started on that farm,” Conway said.
With Trump as president, Conway will have her work cut out for her. Insiders say she is no ‘yes man’ to Trump. He will get unvarnished, unsweetened advice from Conway and Trump needs to listen to her. There are difficult times ahead and Trump will have a level-headed pro at his side through thick and thin. Conway’s appointment should give these Democratic crybabies something more to whine about.
Speaking about Conway Trump said she “played a crucial role in my victory. She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message.”
Meanwhile, Trump announced Thursday his pick for press secretary — Sean Spicer, 45, who has been communications director for the Republican National Committee since 2011 and chief GOP strategist since 2015.
No doubt that Conway and Spicer will be working close together with a hostile media to convey President Trump’s actions with the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. military to the American people and foreign nations. The challenges they will face are immense as Trump strips away President Obama’s legacy with dumping the Affordable Care Act, enforcing current immigration laws, stopping radical Islamic terror, curbing gun violence across America, rebuilding infrastructure and inner city decay, ending federal funding for Democratic inspired sanctuary cities and abortion. This list can go on and on.
Presidential press conferences are hard to come by these days. President Obama apparently is no fan of press conferences and rarely holds one preferring to let his press secretary do the talking while he gives non-stop meaningless legacy speeches on subjects few people care about. Candidate Hillary Clinton hated press conferences and rarely held one. The ones Clinton did hold during the campaign were phony staged events with pre-arranged questions from friendly reporters. She clearly could not handle the truth and it showed.
Trump handles the press in different ways such as ignoring them and keeping them at arm’s length preferring to use social media to bypass mainstream media and reach millions upon millions of Americans without the filter of a biased media focused on as much negative news as they can create about Trump.
It remains to be seen what the changes will be coming to Trump’s press office with Spicer at the helm, but Conway is the sharpest knife in Trump’s tool box. She’ll cut through all the crap and get Trump’s positive message out to the masses.
P.S. Merry Christmas everyone.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
