Kellyanne Conway, former Senior Counselor to President Trump and author of 'Here's The Deal,' joins Glenn to dish out all the details about her life working in the White House. From her marriage and her husband’s differing opinion of Trump, to the media’s attempts to rip apart ANYONE close to the former president, Conway shares the TRUTH about her job. Plus, she shares how Donald Trump was a 'good’ boss respecting of not only women, but of working moms as well…
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Well, it is a pleasure to welcome on the program, the author of here's the deal. And former Trump campaign manager, former senior counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway. Hello, Kellyanne, how are you?
KELLYANNE: I'm wonderful, Glenn Beck, and thank you for having me today. It's good to hear your voice in person.
GLENN: Yeah. Thank you.
So I have to start, because this is the -- I'm sorry. But this is the thing that I've always wondered. You and your husband, are you like James Carville and Mary Matalin?
KELLYANNE: No, we're not. And I'm glad you asked that question, because other people just write it, and they presume it. That's not what this is.
He was never a Democrat, working against my Republican presidential candidate. That would be James Carville, who helped make Bill Clinton's career. Mary Matalin, very smart Republican strategist who worked for the Bushes and others. In this case, George and I both were of a single mind, that Donald Trump had to beat Hillary Clinton and become president of the United States. George was incredibly supportive, even helpful. Coming to the campaign, many nights, after leaving his own job, a few blocks away from Trump Tower. And I write in the book, this new book, Here's the Deal. Glenn, great beach read, Great Father's Day gift. Get on it, folks.
I write in there very explicitly. People say, without Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump would not have been elected in 2016. That's debatable. But what will never be in doubt, is that without George Conway, Kellyanne Conway could not have been the campaign manager in this closing months of 2016 to the extent I was. He encouraged, if not insisted me to take my shot. He was -- George was the only person I told in the hours after president -- Mr. Trump offered me the campaign management job. And he said, Kellyanne, you're doing this. He can actually win with you, and I'll help out more at home. And he did.
And so people didn't even know the facts. And George and I had something else in common, and not just parents of these four wonderful children, Glenn Beck.
But we had in common that we both accepted big jobs in the Trump administration. Everyone knows my job. They saw me out there again and again. But George had accepted a position, a nomination as the head of the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice. That's a big job. And he -- you know, did that. Now, he changed his mind about Donald Trump. This is America. We can all do that, Glenn Beck. You can change your mind about Donald Trump, about politics, about what you're having for dinner. Whatever it is.
But to do it in such a public way, was so not George, and was so not helpful to his wife and to our family.
GLENN: And so did he feel it was necessary? You say, it wasn't like him. What -- can you get into that? Why did he feel it was so necessary?
KELLYANNE: Oh, I think people who change their mind about Donald Trump, and people who are already congenitally afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome, for which there are no therapeutics and no vaccines for.
Look around. There certainly isn't. They feel duty-bound to express that publicly, because they find an immediate and equally vociferous hungry audience in so doing. But as I put in my book, you know, I miss the privately brilliant John Conway, not the publicly bombastic one that he had become.
And, listen, George is a very smart person. He graduated Harvard at 20. Graduated Yale Law School at 23. Made partner at a premier law firm in New York City, at 30. Unheard of in these days after five years only. Unheard of. And he's -- we've been married for many decades. We have four children together. What this all comes down to. I don't understand what was happening. The reason why I call it cheating by tweeting, is because of how he was spending his time. So if you have a side piece, the Italians in my family, the Italian men in my family did, growing up. If you have a mistress, you're spending with that person. Thinking about her. And meeting with her. And eating with her. And planning -- and pretending you weren't with her.
So this was very similar, in that this consumed an awful lot of his time and his attention. And you saw what happened. George Conway became a folk hero. But actually Kellyanne Conway's husband did. I put in the book quantitatively, that he was referred to as Kellyanne Conway's husband, routinely, which tells you all you need to know about what their real motive was, particularly in those beginning parts of the year, which was to try to stick it to me. To try to put division between Donald Trump and me. To try to get me to quit my job. I was good at my job. And I loved my job. I loved my public service job. And I was darn good at it. And I was very focused on it. And I think the media who never knew. You know, the job that media, Glenn is in my view, to get the story. But they took it upon themselves, to get the president. And those around him. His family members. His sister staffers. And their family. And they couldn't get enough of Kellyanne Conway's husband.
GLENN: I have to ask just one quick follow-up question. Because you write in the book, Ivanka came to you. And gave you two names of marriage counselors. And you guys went. You guys are married, and are things better now?
KELLYANNE: We did not go.
GLENN: Oh, you did not go? I thought -- I thought she gave you two names and he said yes to one.
KELLYANNE: That's right. He said no to one, and then he sort of shrugged at the other. And we never went. And the way I look at it -- and I wouldn't be so public about something so private, except it's important to know, that I take my marriage vows very seriously. I've always been faithful to them. And when I said, forever, I meant it. And it was very nice of Ivanka Trump, who -- and I put in the book, you know, I was talking to her about something else. Our offices were right next to each other in the West Wing. On the second floor. I call the cool kids wing. White House (inaudible) office, me, Dena Powell (phonetic), Ivanka, and then Larry Cuvlo (phonetic) across from us. And she was -- Ivanka is a very nice person. She's very gracious. Very kind. And she gave it to me, because she knew I was open to receiving it.
She said, listen, I've got lots of Democrats in my family. I know how this goes. And these -- they're making things harder for all of us. And it was very nice of her. But we never went. And I -- the reason I talk about it is because I think if George would have wanted to do it, he would have done it. Because that's the way he spends his time. He did exactly what he wanted to do. So I want to make very clear, right now, make it clear in the book, because I know it gets manipulated. Is that George does not loyalty and fealty to Donald Trump. Or to the president of the United States. Or to a political party. Or to this or that. The vows were to me. So if he wants to change his mind, he can do that. This is America.
But changing his mind about me and that job, after we moved our family there, together. With the kids in new schools, accepted jobs. And even when he took his name out of contention. Yes. Out of contention for the civil division chief of the U.S. Department of Justice, Glenn. He put out a statement not on Twitter. Because he wasn't going to tweet then. Put out a statement saying, Mr. President, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. And, of course, I still support your administration. And the work of my wonderful wife.
A couple days later, he sent out his first tweet. I put in the book, Sean Spicer, then the press secretary is coming toward me in the East Room. And he said, did you know about this? And he's showing me a tweet that apparently came from George Conway. We have an entire chapter in my new book, Here's the Deal, Glenn, that says, but George doesn't tweet. And that's exactly what I said. I said that can't be true. He doesn't tweet. It's a fake account. It was hacked. And we all know the rest it history.
GLENN: Yeah. So you mentioned that Ivanka was very gracious to you. And that's the one thing that I don't think -- that never comes out about the president, as well. His children are very, very gracious.
But he is incredibly gracious and warm in person. It's like, he's like a different person when he's not on -- you know, when he's not on stage. Do I have that read right of him?
KELLYANNE: You have it absolutely right. And I know that you've had contact with him. So you know this to be true. You've had conversations with him in person. More than a few. Glenn, it is absolute true. And if Donald Trump was not a good boss, let alone a good boss to women, or a good boss to working mothers, of which there were many in the White House. I wouldn't have worked there. Why would I do that?
He was a great boss. And he's very warm. And I think Donald Trump will never get full credit for something he has credit for. Which is how many times he positively transformed people's lives by picking up the phone by making a call. By making his private jet available back in the day. By just connecting people -- needs with opportunity.
GLENN: Yeah.
KELLYANNE: And, you know, he doesn't brag about that, any more than the people running around in the coms department, saying, I think you should go do an off-the-record ice cream stop with your nine grandchildren. And he would say, why would I do that? I enjoy them in private.
In other words, he's very authentic that way. And he's very warm and gracious. Even Hillary Clinton, I write in the book. Hillary Clinton acknowledged as much in a debate. In one of the debates, in 2016, Glenn, each of them, Trump and Hillary were asked about the other. Say something nice about the other. Compliment the other.
And her compliment of him, was I don't agree with Donald on those things. We disagree on everything, but he has raised really great kids. Adult kids.
GLENN: Yeah. That's true.
KELLYANNE: Then look what happened. They went after him, and still do. But it absolutely is still true.
And we can all be remembered for our kids. I think that's wonderful.
I said, you know, when my daughter Claudia was only 12. Didn't want to move to Washington. I said, if you want to get 75 percent agreement on something, you're really winning. But as a mom, you basically need to get close to 100 percent agreement. So I needed all four kids on board. And she was really the holdout. And I really feel for her.
And she's a great kid. Now almost a woman. Claudia, you know, someone in the Washington Post was doing a profile. And they said, well, when you saw (inaudible) with a change.org petition. Stop the Conway kids from moving to DC. What's that about? I said, well, at least she's honest. I said, the rest of the country often pretends I'm a revolutionary, I'm a change maker, I'm going to do this. And they go to McDonald's every night and order number three. I said, at least she admits that. At least she admits that. At least she admits she wants things to stay the same and not move. I said, well, what do you say to her?
I said -- she said, mom, I don't want to go DC and be known as Kellyanne Conway. I said, guess what. You cure cancer.
And I'll be known as Claudia Conway's mother. Deal. And that's very true. For Donald Trump. He raised great kids. We're all trying to raise great kids. The most wonderful contribution you can make in society.
GLENN: It is.
And I know -- that's the one thing I knew the whole time, was that his kids loved him. And at the end, I'm not sure my kids would have walked through that wall of fire.
I mean, they -- they never abandoned him. At least publicly. And I -- I doubt that they agree on everything. But maybe that's just me, and I'm not asking for inside information. We're talking to Kellyanne Conway. She has a brand-new book that's out now. We're going to spend some time with her in just a second.
If you want to pick up the book, it's called here's the deal by Kellyanne Conway. It is out now. Wherever -- wherever you order your books or get your books from.
