Conway hails Trump as ‘champion’ of women

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who is set to leave her position at the end of the month, praised President Trump Wednesday evening during the Republican National Convention (RNC), citing his history of hiring women in leadership roles.

“A woman in a leadership role can still seem novel,” Conway said on Wednesday, which was both the penultimate night of the convention and Women’s Equality Day. Conway took the stage in white, a color associated with the women’s suffrage movement and frequently worn by Democratic congresswomen at the president’s State of the Union address.

“Not so for President Trump. For decades, he has elevated women to senior positions in business and in government,” she added. “He confides in and consults us, respects our opinions, and insists that we are on equal footing with the men. President Trump helped me shatter a barrier in the world of politics by empowering me to manage his campaign to its successful conclusion.”

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who announced earlier this week that she would step down at the end of the month, said the president had put women in powerful positions and given her an influential role. More #RNC2020 coverage: https://t.co/917aPV10T9 pic.twitter.com/5qyJwO8bAr

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 27, 2020

“For many of us, ‘women’s empowerment’ is not a slogan. It comes not from strangers on social media or sanitized language in a corporate handbook. It comes from the everyday heroes who nurture us, who shape us, and who believe in us,” she continued.

“The promise of America belongs to us all. This is a land of inventors and innovators, of entrepreneurs and educators, of pioneers and parents, all contributing to the success and the future of a great nation and her people. These everyday heroes have a champion in President Trump.”

The speech comes days after Conway, the first woman to manage a victorious presidential campaign, announced she would leave her role in the White House at the end of the month. Her husband George Conway, a vocal critic of the president, also said he would step back from his work with the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project.