Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway were engaged in a years-long ‘blood feud’ for most of former President Donald Trump‘s time in office.
Kushner lumped Conway into a category of ‘overconfident idiots’ working for his father-in-law, while Conway tried to throw Kushner under the bus during the height of last summer’s George Floyd protests, journalist Michael Bender wrote in his forthcoming book.
DailyMail.com was provided with exclusive details of the Kushner-Conway power struggle from Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.
‘They’re fighting over who loves me the most,’ Trump had told the author in 2017 when asked about his team’s infighting.
Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway were engaged in a years-long ‘blood feud’ for most of former President Donald Trump’s time in office
Bender wrote that Kushner had started to dislike Conway during the 2016 campaign and he even told colleagues that he would have fired her had the race lasted two more weeks.
Instead Conway made history as the first female campaign manager to win a presidential race.
With it looking like she was heading to the White House Kushner started laying the groundwork to box her out if Trump suddenly decided to put her in charge.
He described his role, Bender wrote, as protecting the soon-to-be president from ‘overconfident idiots.’
Kushner referred to her as one of Trump’s ‘enablers.’
Kushner was concerned that Trump’s management style left him vulnerable to, as Bender described, ‘brash promoters like Kellyanne.’
Conway didn’t care much for this treatment and found ways to undermine Kushner, especially at critical moments.
Kellyanne Conway is photographed in March 2021 after Trump’s departure from the White House
Michael Bender wrote that Kushner (right with Ivanka Trump) had started to dislike Conway during the 2016 campaign and he even told colleagues that he would have fired her had the race lasted two more weeks
During the height of last summer’s George Floyd protests, when Trump wanted to make a bold statement against rioters he discussed his plans to walk to St. John’s church with Conway.
A section of the historic church’s basement had been lit on fire the night before when demonstrations got out of hand.
When speaking to Conway about what would become his infamous Bible photo-op, she asked the president if he planned to bring a coalition of evangelical and black supporters with him.
DailyMail.com was provided with exclusive details of the Kushner-Conway power struggle from Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost
She then reminded Trump that it was Kushner who said he would reach out to black leaders after Floyd had been killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
‘I thought those calls were being made already,’ Conway said – setting up Kushner to take the fall when criticism began pouring in.
Trump took the walk, not with black supporters and evangelicals, but with members of his cabinet, staff and military brass.
Later in 2020, however, the relationship superficially improved.
As the 2020 campaign was struggling, Trump floated the idea of moving Conway to his Virginia campaign headquarters to oversee strategy.
Trump was mulling similar roles for former White House strategist Steve Bannon and also Nick Ayers, who served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.
Conway wasn’t big on the idea, Bender wrote, because she viewed the center of power, even during a campaign, to still be the White House.
She also didn’t want to leave Trump surrounded by the people she considered ‘COVID deniers,’ namely Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Presidential Personnel Office Director John McEntee.
With Trump mulling moving Conway to the campaign, Kushner was suddenly, as Bender described, ‘over-the-top nice to her.’
Conway tried to throw Kushner under the bus during the height of last summer’s George Floyd protests, journalist Michael Bender wrote in his forthcoming book. When speaking to Conway about what would become his infamous Bible photo-op, she asked the president if he planned to bring a coalition of evangelical and black supporters with him
‘It was a disorienting turn of events for staff who witnessed the exchanges during White House meetings. Others described it as nauseating,’ Bender wrote.
During one session when Kushner referred to something Conway said as ‘brilliant,’ she demurred as a way to get back at him.
‘What I said was pretty basic and obvious,’ Conway said. ‘But I’ll give you a nudge when I say something brilliant.’
And Conway had, as the book makes clear, come in with far more political experience than Kushner.
Conway moved to D.C. as a college student and began doing polling work – what she was known for before being tapped to run Trump’s campaign – during law school.
Kushner, on the other hand, showed up in Iowa in February 2016 and didn’t know how the state’s famous caucus worked.
The Iowa GOP’s process is much simpler than the one Democrats use – with Iowans simply attending caucus meetings, where they listen to speeches from the candidates or candidate surrogates and then vote.
As Bender’s book describes, as Iowans approached Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, asking how to caucus for candidate Trump, ‘the two New Yorkers traded blank stares.’
While Ivanka Trump had recorded a how-to-caucus video the day before, she had merely read a script.
She then asked Kushner what to do.
‘I have no idea,’ he replied.
He then pulled out his phone and opened the web browser, typing out: ‘H-o-w d-o y-o-u c-a-u-c-u-s?’
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