Kellyanne Conway Demonstrates How NOT to Be a Supportive Wife

I wasn’t invited to the Conway wedding, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that somewhere in the ceremony, there were words like this:

“Do you, Kellyanne, take George to be your lawful husband? Will you love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health and forsaking all others keep only unto him so long as you both shall live?”

Kellyanne:  “I will. I Kellyanne take you, George, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health while we both shall live.”

We all know marriages don’t always hold to such standards, unfortunately. That being said, has there ever been a more public breakdown of communication between a married couple than what is going on between the Conways?

The two could not be further apart, when it comes to their publicly stated opinions about Kellyanne’s boss, President Trump.

Kellyanne Conway has become infamous, not for her current position, but because it is apparently in her job description to lie, lie often, and raise the outrageousness of each new lie with every interview.

Some networks have questioned the wisdom in even having her on, if her only purpose would appear to be promoting the latest sloppily-constructed misinformation emerging from the White House.

On the other side is husband George, who has come out as a particularly harsh and consistent critic of Trump.

For as wonderful as Kellyanne claims Trump to be, George has turned pointing out how very awful the president is into an art form.

Recently, in the thick of Trump’s Twitter nastiness towards deceased Republican Senator John McCain, George Conway posted a page from the DSM-5, which is the diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental or personality disorders.

This is the page, describing the signs of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, posted by Conway:

In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), ^[1] NPD is defined as comprising a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the presence of at least 5 of the following 9 criteria:

• A grandiose sense of self-importance

• A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

• A belief that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions

• A need for excessive admiration

• A sense of entitlement

• Interpersonally exploitive behavior

• A lack of empathy

• Envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her

• A demonstration of arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes

At least 5.

So, does that remind you of anyone?

It apparently caught George Conway’s attention.

For mental health professionals, it is not advisable to make a diagnosis without interviewing a potential client, but George Conway is not a mental health professional, so he’s not bound by such restrictions.

Also, in order to first begin the process of diagnosis, there must be some identifiable symptoms that first raise concerns, right?

Hence the reason for the DSM-5.

Some historic narcissistic personalities would be Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, and Adolph Hitler.

While George Conway didn’t call Trump Hitler, apparently, just the suggestion that the president is mentally unwell set him off.

Trump began to insult George Conway, calling him a “loser,” and suggesting that his wife, Kellyanne, had worked with Trump in denying him a job with the administration.

“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,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!”

Trump later on Wednesday took the Twitter feud offline, telling reporters that George Conway is a “whack job” and doing a “tremendous disservice to a wonderful wife.”

That part was pretty low.

As it was, Trump was lying. Again.

George Conway was actually offered a job with the Justice Department, to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, in May 2017.

At the time, and for whatever reason, he still had cordial feelings for the newly minted Trump administration. In a letter to the president, however, he politely declined the offer.

“I am profoundly grateful to you and to the Attorney General for selecting me to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice,” Conway wrote to Trump in the letter. “I have reluctantly concluded, however, that, for me and my family, this is not the right time for me to leave the private sector and take on a new role in the federal government.”

Wow. He turned down a government position for the sake of his family.

What a concept.

And speaking of family, you have to wonder how Kellyanne is feeling about the president striking so hard at her husband.

It’s almost like she has a choice to make.

On Wednesday, she seemed to make it, when she firmly defended Donald Trump.

“He left it alone for months out of respect for me,” Conway, a senior Trump aide, told POLITICO in a brief telephone interview. “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?”

“Don’t play psychiatrist any more than George should be,” she added. “You’re not a psychiatrist and he’s not, respectfully.”

“Respectfully” is a funny term to tack on to what is basically an act of throwing your husband under the bus.

“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. Go do that honey.’ It’s the opposite.”

Indeed, the Conways are considered a Washington power couple, but the rumor is that Kellyanne is taking on some of her boss’ worst characteristics, as she and Trump both tell others on the Hill that her husband is jealous of her success.

Given her interview with Politico, it’s not hard to believe.

When questioned about the affect of her husband’s Twitter proclamations against Trump on her ability to work in the Trump administration:

“Why would it affect my job? Hasn’t everybody tried to push me out already and here I am, stronger than ever,” she said. “You’re looking at it the wrong way.”

“Yesterday George spent the day tweeting about the president,” she noted. “I spent my day doing two one-hour briefings with press and intergovernmental affairs people, agency people from all across the country and then over an hour briefing that I led in the Oval Office with the president and first lady in the cabinet on opioids at one year, so this is what I do here. I think it probably looks differently if everybody is turning into ‘Gossip Girl.’”

It’s an intriguing dynamic.

Some are promoting a rumor that this is a massive ruse by the Conways, with both being full-blown Trumpkins, but there doesn’t seem to be any rational thought process behind that particular theory.

How does anyone benefit from it?

I have an alternate theory that if there is any ruse, it is with Kellyanne Conway.

Kellyanne was not always a Trump loyalist. Before he won the GOP nomination, she was, herself, a strong critic and warned any who would listen against voting for him.

When he won and offered her a job, her tune changed.

In my alternate theory, what goes on in the Conway home is a mutual disgust with the president. Kellyanne Conway agrees with her husband, but plays the role to keep her position.

Meanwhile, multiple sources have pointed to Kellyanne Conway as the leak within the Trump White House (a claim she denies).

I just can’t help but think of the anonymous op-ed writer who told the public that there were still adults in the White House, shielding the nation from Trump’s worst impulses and ignorance of the job he holds.

Meanwhile, you have to wonder why Donald Trump would go out of his way to make things tense for the couple.

That’s an easy question.

For starters, Trump has no respect for the institution of marriage. His three marriages and numerous affairs is proof of that.

Also, he does what he does because it is what is in his heart and nature to do. He is a cruel, cold, vindictive creature. He would destroy a family, rip apart parents and children without a second thought.

He has a habit of this sort of thing. Whether he was insulting Ted Cruz’s wife, threatening Michael Cohen’s family, or any number of other attacks, where he brought in someone’s family and made them a part of his grudges.

He attacks when he could let things go, not because he’s “a fighter,” but because he is a petulant, mean-spirited coward.

How the Conways and their children weather this period in their lives remains to be seen, but if Trump has his way, George Conway will suffer the loss of his family as payment for his insolence.