By Dana Schuster<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, a presidential glass ceiling <em>was<\/em> broken \u2014 when Kellyanne Conway earned the distinction of being the first woman in history to run a winning campaign for the White House.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels good,\u201d Conway, Donald Trump\u2019s campaign manager, told The Post. \u201cI\u2019m not a big gender-identity person, and I wasn\u2019t hired for my gender, but it\u2019s .\u2009.\u2009. a pretty cool thing to say to my three daughters and my son. Many women work really hard and never get their shot. I feel blessed to have gotten my shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And this is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>She announced on Thursday that she <a href=\"http:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/11\/10\/kellyanne-conway-says-she-has-job-offer-in-trump-administration\/\">was joining the Trump administration<\/a> after a tweet from journalist Gabriel Sherman suggested she was reluctant to do so because she didn\u2019t want to give up her lucrative polling business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFalse,\u201d Conway tweeted. \u201cCould it be those \u2018sources\u2019 want the WH job I\u2019ve been offered?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She says she felt compelled to reply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just thought it was an obnoxious tweet to put out there,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhat are your sources? I can be your source about me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that she\u2019s ready and willing to move to Washington, DC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will absolutely go somewhere for my highest and best use for this particular president and his administration \u2014 and I certainly will confer further with Mr. Trump in the upcoming days about what that is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Not bad for having only been riding the Trump train for three months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI refer to it as \u2018my semester abroad,\u2019\u2009\u201d Conway said with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>She was named Trump\u2019s campaign manager on Aug. 17, weeks after being hired as a senior adviser. The billionaire had fired his two managers \u2014 Corey Lewandowski, who is said to have alienated Trump\u2019s children, and Paul Manafort, who was tainted by reports that he received millions of dollars from a party associated with Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n<p>Conway, who has appeared on TV more than 1,200 times as a conservative pundit, initially was dismissed as a parlor trick.<\/p>\n<p>In September, BuzzFeed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/mckaycoppins\/the-myth-of-trump-whisperer-kellyanne-conway\">ran an article<\/a> headlined \u201cThe Myth of \u2018Trump-Whisperer\u2019 Kellyanne Conway,\u201d suggesting her greatest asset to the campaign was being a woman whom the candidate could toss in front of cameras to help him gain trust among female voters.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10534881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"modal-trigger\">Modal Trigger<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10534881 size-nypost-large-desktop\" src=\"http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664&h=441&crop=1&strip=all\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 664px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300 300w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=640 640w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1280 1280w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664 664w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-620932238.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1328 1328w\" width=\"664\" height=\"441\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conway speaks to reporters after a rally.<span class=\"credit\">Photo: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But as Conway told the New Yorker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2016\/10\/17\/kellyanne-conways-political-machinations\">in an October article<\/a>: \u201cI tell people all the time, \u2018Don\u2019t be fooled, because I am a man by day.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She insists she had faith in Trump\u2019s ability to win from the get-go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a student of Hillary Clinton\u2019s,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been around a long time, and she has many gifts and many strengths, but risk-taking and coloring outside the lines is not one of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people have been telling pollsters for decades that they want someone who is an outsider, a disrupter, an independent voice who doesn\u2019t owe anybody anything in Washington \u2014 and they finally got their wish with Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote left\"><p>Conway described the Trump team as \u2018the walking wounded,\u2019 taking flak from \u2018critics and naysayers and, in this case, the so-called sophisticated data.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Not that it was an easy path.<\/p>\n<p>Conway described the Trump team as \u201cthe walking wounded,\u201d taking flak from \u201ccritics and naysayers and, in this case, the so-called sophisticated data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, she said, all the hate propelled Trump\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe media and Clinton campaign created some sympathy for Donald Trump because the message was not subtle, it was an avalanche, indeed, an unprecedented deluge of negative, caustic, burn-it-to-the-ground anti-Trump messaging, and people don\u2019t respond to that,\u201d Conway said.<\/p>\n<p>Conway herself is a spin master. When Trump went off script \u2014 way off script \u2014 during the first presidential debate, attacking Rosie O\u2019Donnell and bragging that the housing crisis was \u201cgood business,\u201d Conway simply changed the topic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the fact that he restrained himself tonight and he was a gentleman toward [Clinton],\u201d she gushed to reporters that evening, according to the New Yorker. \u201cHe definitely could\u2019ve gone .\u2009.\u2009. [and talked] about her husband and women, and he did not .\u2009.\u2009. Restraint is a virtue, and it is certainly a presidential virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conway told the Washington Post that she deploys the same strategy with Trump that she uses on her children: Rather than fighting with him, she provides him a range of options to pick from so he feels in control. The only difference? She can\u2019t restrict her boss\u2019 electronics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not my job keeping him off Twitter,\u201d she said to The Post.<\/p>\n<p>The White House is a far cry from Conway\u2019s childhood home in Atco, NJ. She was raised by her mom \u2014 who cashed chips at the Claridge Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City \u2014 grandma and two single aunts. (Her father, a truck driver, and mother divorced when Conway was 2.) None talked about politics.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10534883\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"modal-trigger\">Modal Trigger<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10534883 size-nypost-large-desktop\" src=\"http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664&h=441&crop=1&strip=all\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 664px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300 300w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=640 640w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1280 1280w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664 664w, http:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/gettyimages-621169338.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1328 1328w\" width=\"664\" height=\"441\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conway speaks at a Trump rally.<span class=\"credit\">Photo: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her interest was piqued while covering politics for her high school newspaper. After hearing Ronald Reagan speak, Conway knew her destiny was with the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe really touched me,\u201d she told the New Yorker. \u201cI liked the more uplifting, aspiration, yet tough-guy kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conway got her law degree from George Washington University and in 1995 founded The Polling Company, with clients ranging from American Express to Newt Gingrich.<\/p>\n<p>She was a belle of the Beltway, appearing on the cover of a Washington society magazine. In 2001, she married George T. Conway III, an attorney at white-shoe law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The two moved into a condo at Trump World Tower, where she developed a rapport with her landlord.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sat on the condo board, and [Trump is] very involved in his condos,\u201d she told the New Yorker. \u201cOver the years, he would ask me my opinion about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Conways eventually moved into a $6 million home in tony Alpine, NJ, where they raise their four children.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote right\"><p>\u2018One of the most important things I tell my children is that hard work can pay off. You can\u2019t quit. You can\u2019t complain. You never claim it\u2019s unfair or unequal.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOne of the most important things I tell my children is that hard work can pay off. You can\u2019t quit. You can\u2019t complain. You never claim it\u2019s unfair or unequal,\u201d Conway said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, when Trump began considering a presidential run, he turned to Conway. But she rebuffed him and went to work with Ted Cruz instead, running his super PAC, Keep the Promise 1. When Trump defeated Cruz in the primaries, Conway jumped ship to Trump, spearheading the Defeat Crooked Hillary PAC in June, before leaving to serve as one of Trump\u2019s advisers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe won without the usual [DC] gravy train, which is very liberating,\u201d Conway said. \u201cTrump is threatening the very way people make their living in Washington \u2014 he threatened to rip the engines out and take the wheels off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the question remains <a href=\"http:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/11\/09\/trump-likely-to-fill-up-his-cabinet-with-dc-outsiders\/\">whether he\u2019ll really be able to \u201cdrain the swamp<\/a>\u201d with rumored cabinet appointees including tainted politicians like Chris Christie, Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani.<\/p>\n<p>While Conway wouldn\u2019t comment on whether any of Trump\u2019s offspring would be appointed to cabinet posts, she said, \u201cWe literally could not have run this campaign without the adult children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No doubt, Conway\u2019s comfortable relationship with the Trump clan and the president-elect himself has proven to be one of her greatest assets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have very good chemistry,\u201d Gingrich told the New Yorker, adding that her predecessors had failed because they tried \u201cto reshape him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conway herself admits that her approach to Trump was unorthodox.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo things people need to learn is that when you try to apply conventional tactics to Donald Trump, you\u2019ll be sorely disappointed,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd No. 2, don\u2019t bet against Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/11\/13\/kellyanne-conway-tells-the-post-she-feels-blessed-over-white-house-gig\/\">http:\/\/nypost.com\/2016\/11\/13\/kellyanne-conway-tells-the-post-she-feels-blessed-over-white-house-gig\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kellyanne Conway tells The Post she feels \u2018blessed\u2019 over White House\u00a0gig<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}