“Thank you for sticking with the conservative movement,” Kellyanne Conway told the audience at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday morning.
After a tumultuous year of infighting, one in which she herself shifted support from Ted Cruz to Donald Trump, Conway was greeted with a standing ovation upon taking the stage at this year’s conference.
Conway is no stranger to CPAC. In fact, she served for a time on its parent organization’s board of directors.
But she used her remarks at the conference not to recite platitudes about philosophical conservatism or convince the audience that her boss fits the mold. Instead, Conway used her stage time primarily to promote her unique brand of feminism, seemingly shaped by her experiences in Donald Trump’s campaign and administration.
Though in the past, Conway has made a point of recommending young women dress femininely in order to “be taken seriously in the workforce,” on Thursday she lamented society’s impulse to “constantly [talk] about what women look like or what they wear.”
Though she made no explicit reference to it, Conway, of course, has been targeted relentlessly by the Left for her wardrobe since taking on a higher profile.
She spoke about the importance of work-life balance and returned to familiar talking points about her hesitance to identify as a feminist, even recalling a story she’s told in the past about an experience that taught her to negotiate pay, an account that could be ripped straight from the pages of Lean In.
She’s long been a critic of traditional feminism, serving on the board of the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute where she often lectured on similar issues.
So it’s not surprising that Conway also swiped at January’s Women’s March on Thursday, remarking, “It turns out a lot of women just have a problem with women in power.”
“This presumptive negativity about women and power, I think, is very unfortunate,” she said.
Conway made a point of noting Donald Trump’s victory over the first female presidential candidate of a major party, saying, “Many women looked passed the commonality of gender.”
She declared, “Donald Trump is not fully understood for how compassionate he is and what great boss he is to women.”
Conway is clearly comfortable pioneering this brand of subversive feminism, and her experiences with Donald Trump actually position her as an effective surrogate to promote it.
As the target of viciously sexist attacks from other women, and from men, Conway could effectively leverage her experiences to make a pitch to moderate women. Her decision to use her platform at the largest gathering of conservatives to discuss women’s issues may signal a new prioritization of the topic.
Between Conway and Ivanka Trump, strong careerists who make a point to promote women’s issues, the White House may be brewing a potent weapon to cede ground from the Left.
While the Women’s March made a huge splash the day after the presidential inauguration, the group embraces radical feminists who exclude pro-life women and demand acceptance of “intersectionality.” In Conway and Ivanka, both of whom articulately address the resonant issue of work-life balance, the Trump White House is actually better equipped to make a push for women in the middle.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
