Donald Trump hires ‘Trump whisperer’ and former model Hope Hicks

THEY call her the “Trump whisperer”. Where Melania Trump has disappointed, some say this beauty can tame the beast.

White House communication's director Hope Hicks. Picture: Mandel Ngan

DONALD Trump calls her “Hopie” or “Hopester”. Others call her “The Trump whisperer”.

She calls him “Mr Trump”.

Hope Hicks has been a close family friend of the Trump family ever since she started working for a public relations company representing Ivanka’s luxury fashion line in 2014.

So close, the Trumps and the Hicks are known to holiday together at Trump’s infamous Mar-a-Lago resort. They celebrated the Jewish Shabbat with Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner. She stood side-by-side with the Trumps during their visit with the Pope.

Hope is even said to be one of the president’s closest advisers. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort says she “totally understands” Mr Trump.

Ivanka has described her as “brilliant, kind and wickedly funny” — no surprise considering she’s known as a “souvenir from Trump Tower” — in reference to one of the few survivors from the “old days” before the Trump administration.

Now, Hicks is taking on one of the most powerful roles in Washington, after the White House announced her as its new communications director, the third in eight months.

Hicks has been named White House communication's director, formally taking on one of the most powerful roles in Washington. Picture: Mandel Ngan

Hope Hicks, then communications aide for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, attends a campaign rally at Madison City Schools Stadium in February, 2016. Picture: Tom Williams

The 28-year-old had been filling in as the interim communications director for the past few weeks before the full-time role was made official by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

She replaced Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci who lasted just ten days in the job before he was fired in July. Prior to that was Sean Spicer.

She’ll be earning a cool AU$223841 a year, as much as controversial mouthpiece Kellyanne Conway.

Not that she necessarily has the experience to match.

Following in the footsteps of Melania and Ivanka, Hicks is a former teen model who appeared in Ralph Lauren campaigns as a child and Ford campaigns as a teenager.

She was born and raised in the wealthy suburbs of Connecticut, which sits just outside of New York City. Some call her university a “Republican finishing school”.

She’s most famous as the cover model for various teen-themed book covers, including Barbara Robertson’s Hourglass Adventures, which debuted in 2001, and well as Gossip Girl author Cecily Von Ziegesar’s 2005 novel, The It Girl.

The cover of ‘The It Girl’. Picture: Amazon

Hope Hicks appeared on book covers as a model. Picture: Amazon

She admits she’s new to the game and only started investing in politics after joining the Trump campaign in 2016. But after First Lady Melania proved a disappointing voice of reason, Hicks looks like she could be the saviour for the States.

“She’s doing an excellent job with the worst client in the history of the world,” said Stu Loeser, former press secretary to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“There isn’t a permanent solution to him calming down.”

She’s known as the most “press shy” of the Trump administration, but her silence and alliance has paid dividends; she’s stuck it out with Trump when she was only one of the staff remember during the campaign, “constantly by his side when he travelled, and she held sway over what interviews he gave,” according to the New York Times.

“She is protected, in a world of rival power centres, by the deep bond she shares with the man at the top,” according to Politico.

Trump advisers Kellyanne Conway (L) and Hope Hicks in January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Picture: Alex Wong

But many claim Hicks might just be the hope to breathe new life into the White House; for one thing, she stays out of the limelight, she hasn’t yet lied on record and she turns down most media requests.

Hicks stands apart as a loyalist who is there solely because of her commitment to Trump and his family, who isn’t eyeing the next job up the food chain. She is sometimes treated like an extended family member of the close-knit clan,” wrote Politico.

Hicks has made small gains over the years to be seen as somewhat of a daughter figure to President Trump; she’s figured out the way to communicate with the President privately, even disagree, but ultimately support his decision either way.

“Other aides rely on Hicks’ judgment to gauge when is a good time to speak to the president.”

Hope Hicks is described as a ‘Trump whisperer’.

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