Let’s take a moment to sink this in. Donald Trump, whose bid for the President of United States, seemed laughable to many of us even until a few days back, has clinched the top post.
Riding high on his controversial stance and vitriolic campaigning, the Republican comfortably beat Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, leaving many in utter shock.
But Trump did not achieve the unachievable on his own. Like any other high-profile political contender, Trump had behind him a full-fledged campaign team, which worked relentlessly to get him the desired numbers.
And for a controversial and ‘un-Presidential’ personality that Trump cut for himself, we assume that the task of his campaign team must have been even more difficult.
Kellyanne Conway, a Woman Campaign Manager for Trump. What an Irony!
A veteran adviser having a long-time association with the Republican party, Kellyanne Conway happens to be the first ever woman campaign manager for the Grand Old Party in a Presidential campaign.
She took over the all-important post in August after Corey Lewandowski was shunted.
Conway’s presence was supposed to attract the women voters. But with Trump’s explicitly sexist demeanour, she may not have been able to completely tap into the female vote. However, Trump got enough to hand him a victory over Clinton.
Notably, before joining the Trump brigade, Conway was working with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who was Trump’s prime contender in Republican nomination race, but eventually lost out to the real estate tycoon.
Now that Trump has won, it is fair to say that Kellyanne did a good job. But this one time in an interview with Fox News, she almost gave him away when she said that Trump was “ready to say some rough things if (Clinton) was going to challenge him about his abuse”. Then she quickly corrected herself, “about his record on women.”
Daniel Scavino, Trump’s Social Media Man
Who’s the man behind Trump’s controversial, aggressive and sometimes even flippant tweets? Well, apart from Donald Trump himself, his long time confidante Daniel Scavino played an important role in directing the Republican’s social media strategy.
It’s the strategy, despite being steeped in controversy, which actually worked with the people, as they were smitten by the informal and conversational nature of the tweets coming from Trump’s account. In other words, they might have actually thought that the high-profile presidential nominee (and now, President) was directly talking to them through Twitter like an everyman.
Scavino’s story plays out like a movie script, where sheer luck saw his life progressing from a golf caddie in New York to Trump campaign’s social media director.
A CNN report described the relationship between the two like that of father and son. And going by the future plans he shared in the interview with CNN, Scavino seems all set to be an important part of Trump’s White House team.
Katrina Pierson: From Voting for Obama to Being Trump Campaign's National Spokesperson
From voting for Obama in 2008 to wearing a bullet necklace (think gun rights advocacy!) in a CNN show last year, Katrina Pierson has had quite a transition.
She has categorically defended Trump’s announcements of banning Muslims from the country, saying in an interview with CNN, “So what? They’re Muslims.”
Like Conway, she too has worked with Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
As a member of the Tea Party, Pierson worked for the controversial Tea Party Leadership Fund, which has been referred to in the media as a “scam PAC”.
Her penchant for controversies made her a perfect fit for Trump’s campaign team.
Hope Hicks: The 27-Year-Old Communications Director
The youngest member of Trump's core team, 27-year-old Hope Hicks was the communications director of the campaign.
The lack of any prior political experience did not seem to pose as an obstacle for her when she was selected to be part of Donald Trump’s core team.
Coming from a family of PR experts, and having kickstarted her career at a PR firm herself, one should not be surprised that the young Hicks has managed to achieve so much in so little time.
She too, along with Scavino, provided direction to Trump's (controversial) Twitter presence.
She was the go-to person for any journalist wishing to get access to Donald Trump, and might just become the most sought-after person when the Republican enters the White House.
And did we forget to mention that Hicks has also been a model!
This is not all. Among others who played a key role for Trump’s topsy-turvy but successful campaign, the roles played by campaign chairman Steve Bannon, political strategist Roger Stone and even Trump’s own daughter Ivanka Trump cannot be ignored.
Now that they have achieved what they set out to achieve, one can be quite sure that they must be heaving a sigh of relief, and getting ready to assume important roles in President Trump’s team.
(Sources: Al Jazeera, Cosmopolitan, CNN, The Guardian)
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