CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the wake of a tense and polarized presidential election, leading political strategist and former adviser to Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, visited Harvard University to discuss the president-elect’s victory and its far-reaching implications for the country’s future.

Conway, who made history as the first woman to lead a successful U.S. presidential campaign during Trump’s candidacy in 2016, served as Trump’s senior advisor from 2017 to 2020. Known for navigating the turbulent media landscape, Conway has been a prominent and staunch defender of Trump. Trump’s frequent high-profile and contentious exchanges with reporters have solidified his role as one of Trump’s most loyal and visible supporters.

“Talking is what I love to do. That’s how I make things happen,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir “That’s the Deal.”

And even at Harvard, one of the nation’s leading Ivy League universities where liberal views dominate campus conversation, Conway seemed right at home doing it. At the heart of his words was a resonant point: “You have to listen to the people,” a stance Trump adopted throughout his campaign and a key factor that led to his victory, according to Conway.

Conway left her White House post in 2020 to prioritize her family at a time when her family’s dynamics came under intense public scrutiny. Her ex-husband, George Conway, an outspoken critic of Trump, has openly clashed with Conway on political issues, while their teenage daughter, Claudia, has attracted media attention with social media posts criticizing both her parents and the administration. But Conway’s tenure in the Trump administration remained highly influential. In his memoirs, he described his time in the White House as “the wildest adventure of my life.”

This visit to Harvard was not his first appearance. In 2016, just weeks after Trump’s first presidential victory, Conway and other Trump campaign staffers got into a heated argument with Hillary Clinton campaign representatives that escalated into an argument. “screaming match.” This latest visit began on a measured tone, but turned confrontational during the question-and-answer period as students challenged Conway over her time in the White House and Trump’s agenda.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Setti Warren, director of the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and former Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Conway reflected on the combination of factors that led to Trump’s victory and what that outcome reveals about the country. and his constituents and what the next four years might look like.

“I think we all have second chances in this life. “We hope we do that,” he said. “But I can’t think of a second chance as great as the one he got.”

Why did Trump win?

Conway noted that the Republican victory showed significant “demographic and geographic breadth,” with nearly all states except Nebraska and Washington showing a slight shift toward the Republican side in terms of raw vote totals. Trump’s campaign has improved his margins among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, unionized families, Jewish Americans and young voters since 2016.

“Cutting down the deficits that any Republican presidential candidate would have anyway and then running the totals among the people who want to vote for you is really what he was able to do in seven swing states and across the country,” Conway said.

Later, a preference for the familiar emerged.

“We like to hire people to do a job who have already done it,” he said.

He said Trump is seen as a cheerful and “forward-looking” candidate and has added “some fun” to his campaign by visiting Coachella and McDonald’s. Trump’s authenticity appealed to voters — “they can smell it,” he said — while Kamala Harris’s briefly strong debate performance failed to create a lasting impression of a sincere, authentic candidate.

“For all the talk about happiness, he clearly had it and people did the same,” he said.

What really makes this election cycle different, Conway noted, is the Trump campaign’s ability to expand its reach through emerging platforms like TikTok and podcasts. A prime example of this was Trump’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan. gathered A staggering 26 million views in the first 24 hours.

In the 2024 elections, the Trump campaign did something other Republicans have not done before; By investing in what Conway calls the “unsexy parts of politics,” he laid the groundwork to help equip nonpolitical and less active voters with how-to information. and where to vote. Trump’s endorsement of early voting by mail also played a significant role, causing more Republicans to vote earlier than ever before in this election.

“So they learned how to be a resource to people instead of just being rebels,” he said.

Americans standing

But for Conway, perhaps the most striking takeaway from the election is the profound role that personal agency and resistance to predetermined narratives played in shaping the election. He argued that modern voters increasingly refuse to be boxed into narrow categories.

“When you look at the breadth of the new Trump coalition in 2024, this is the election where Americans stand up and say: ‘Excuse me, you’re not going to tell me what’s important to me, what the biggest consequences are for me. me and how to think based on my race, my gender, my zip code, my sexual orientation, my religion.’”

Conway argued that this election stirred up deep feelings about what people believe is fair, often transcending perceived political divides. He pointed to several examples, such as doctors’ belief that plumbers should not be responsible for paying off student loans or debates about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

Along with border control and the economy, one of the defining issues in the 2024 elections is school choice, especially among parents and communities still grappling with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted. He said people want more control over where their children go to school and what is taught there. “Education is a big sleep issue this time,” Conway said. “If I were a Democrat sitting here, I would address this issue tomorrow.”

Biographically, Conway described how much the Democratic Party has changed over the years. He said he had to be a Democrat by all accounts, half-Irish, half-Italian, Catholic and raised in a working-class community. His father left when he was 3 and he was raised by four strong Catholic Italian women. “(The Democratic Party) used to be the party of workers, but they don’t seem to believe that anymore,” he said.

‘Find a way to help’

As Trump gathers his administration, he is selecting people “fluent in his America First agenda,” focused on deregulation, border security and reviving the pre-COVID-19 economic and energy environment. Conway believes the various agencies will “go their own way” while also working together across departments. He noted that during his time as an advisor, Trump did not always follow his advice, but he always listened.

“Honestly, that’s how we need to unite,” he said.

Conway wants to bring back the “democratization of information,” where everyone from billionaires to busy parents to employees can access direct, transparent communication from the presidency. While an often haphazard barrage, channeled in part through Trump’s tweets, this approach has given people a window and a connection to their government, even if they don’t always agree with the content.

Conway told Trump that “Trump should tweet like he should eat.”

During the question-and-answer period, the tone of the meeting changed when a student asked Conway about the debate surrounding the infamous phrase “alternative facts” and whether his approach in the White House was a deliberate strategy or simply a matter of survival in a chaotic environment. environment. Conway rejected the premise of the question, calling both options flawed, and explained that the term “alternative facts” meant presenting additional information, not made-up facts.

“You gave me two options and they are both wrong,” Conway said. “Do you know what alternative facts mean?” He continued: “I don’t have an answer to a question that doesn’t make much sense to me other than to say you can read my book about alternative facts.”

But Conway is hopeful about the country’s path forward and said his vision does not include divisive rhetoric. Rather than arguing about their beliefs, Conway challenged students to think of productive ways to put their beliefs into practice. “Stop arguing and yelling at each other about two things you will never agree on. You already know this. Why will you be bringing this to the Thanksgiving table next week? What good does this do to anyone? Why do you want to upset the people you love? ”He said it wasn’t worth losing a relative or a friend over politics.

Instead, he suggested finding a handful of non-political points of agreement, perhaps of a familial or cultural nature, and lowering the temperature of divisive disagreements. “Looking at someone based on how they voted and not knowing the person fully, that’s actually looking at someone through one lens, not the whole picture.” Conway suggested both parties should combine their efforts to strengthen democracy.

“The election is over. “The hard work begins,” he said. “It is a big country full of needs. There is so much work to be done. I say find a way to help.