Conways’marriage of opposites, including a capricious third party
The notion of Donald Trump’s closest adviser sharing her life with one of his biggest critics has left this gossipy capital abuzz.
It may be the strangest marriage in Washington, but the notion of Donald Trump’s closest adviser sharing her life with one of his biggest critics has left this gossipy capital abuzz.
How does it work, they ask? How does Kellyanne Conway go to the White House each day to promote and protect the US President while her husband, George, a high-profile conservative lawyer, sits at home and tweets that her boss has a mental disorder.
Until this week, the bizarre story on the Conway family was low-level beltway gossip. But thanks to an explosive few days, it has become national scuttlebutt.
“I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!” Mr Trump tweeted yesterday about George Conway. “I don’t know him. He’s a whack job, there’s no question about it,” Mr Trump said later, adding that he had done a “tremendous disservice to a wonderful wife”.
Mr Conway replied: “You seem determined to prove my point. Good for you! #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder.”
According to Ms Conway, who married George in 2001, the two have spoken only “in passing” about their stark differences about Mr Trump.
But now it has escalated to the point that people are asking what will explode first, Ms Conway’s marriage or her job?
Faced with the stark choice of defending her husband or her boss, Ms Conway yesterday chose to defend her President, saying he was a “counterpuncher’’ and it was inevitable that he would one day hit back at her husband’s taunting on Twitter.
“He (Mr Trump) left it alone for months out of respect for me,’’ she said. “But you think he shouldn’t respond when somebody, a non-medical professional, accuses him of having a mental disorder? You think he should just take that sitting down?’’
The story of this rift harks back to Mr Conway’s disillusionment about Mr Trump’s performance as President.
Ms Conway says her husband — who had several favourable interactions with Mr Trump over legal issues concerning Trump Tower in New York before he became President — was thrilled by Mr Trump’s election win in 2016.
“George was so excited, literally crying with joy in his MAGA hat — black, not red — with his MAGA hat on election night. So, in that way, he’s changed his opinion on matters with the President, the presidency,” she said.
Mr Conway says he realised almost immediately that Mr Trump was not cut out to be President.
“I had assumed and hoped that the gravity of the office would lead him to something greater,” he said. “(But) on day one, his focus on the crowds, it was clear almost instantaneously he’s not capable of it.”
Steadily, Mr Conway has become more critical of the President in his tweets. Mr Trump had wanted to hit back early on but was persuaded by his advisers not to. But last weekend, when Mr Trump unleashed 52 tweets hitting out at various grievances, Mr Conway went one step too far. He tweeted images from US medical manuals of mental disorders including diagnostic criteria for “narcissistic personality disorder”.
Mr Trump was enraged and hit back. “George Conway, often referred to as Mr Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted,” the President tweeted.
Mr Conway denies he missed out on job he wanted at the Justice Department and says he refused to pursue it after Mr Trump sacked FBI director James Comey. “I’m thinking to myself, this guy is going to be at war with the Justice Department for the next two years. I’m not doing this,” Mr Conway said.
So it has been left to Ms Conway to determine how she navigates this impossible path between her husband and the President. “The President is obviously defending me,” she said.
“He could privately say to me: ‘Honey you’re a distraction. We love you. You’ll always be a part of the family but go be with your kids. They need you. Go make a million dollars an hour.’
“It’s the opposite.”
“Why would it affect my job? Hasn’t everybody tried to push me out already and here I am, stronger than ever.’’
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
Women egged in anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach
Three men allegedly set upon a number of women on Saturday night in Sydney's east, throwing eggs at them, with police believing they were targeted because of the clothes they were wearing.
‘Hunted down and locked up’: PM condemns latest anti-Semitic attack
Anthony Albanese has condemned a spate of anti-Semitic hate crimes which has culminated in the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives outside Sydney, declaring the perpetrators 'would not succeed' creating hate and division.