The day after the election, now President-elect Trump and his first Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski marveled at how they got where they did, laughing about how little political experience Hope Hicks had – but at least she looked good.
‘When we started this thing, it was you and me, and an airplane,’ Trump told Lewandowski over the phone. ‘That’s all we had.’
Lewandowski, recalling the conversation in his new book, ‘Let Trump Be Trump,’ offered that they also ‘had Hope.’
She’s now the White House communications director, but President Trump’s first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski writes in his new book about how little political experience Hope Hicks (pictured) had before joining the Trump campaign
At 29, Hope Hicks (left) is the youngest White House communications director in history. A new book ‘Let Trump Be Trump’ talks about how she got her start
The book, co-written by Trump’s first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (right) suggests Hope Hicks (left) had no idea what she was getting into when businessman Donald Trump, her boss at the time, invited her on a trip to Iowa
President-elect Trump (right) seen celebrating his electoral win last December during the transition, reportedly told Corey Lewandowski that Hope Hicks (second from left) had ‘as much experience as a coffee cup,’ but agreed that she was ‘good-looking’ while doing it
Not the ‘hope and change’ of the Obama campaign, but the assistance of Hicks, who was one of the only campaign staffers to work for Trump in the early days.
‘She had about as much experience as a coffee cup,’ Trump remarked.
‘But she’s good-looking,’ Lewandowski said he said.
Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie’s campaign memoir came out earlier this week
‘That always helps,’ the president-elect responded, according to his ex-campaign manager’s account.
Hicks had been a former Ralph Lauren model and worked at a public relations firm in New York City before coming to work for the Trumps, primarily for Ivanka Trump’s brand.
Lewandowski and his co-writer, Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie, describe the now 29-year-old Hicks, who became the youngest White House Communications Director when she was promoted in September, as ‘smart and private,’ adding that she had ‘nearly a photographic memory.’
The authors talked about her athletic ability – that ‘she could travel the length of an Olympic-size pool underwater’ – and mention the fact that she was the captain of her lacrosse team at Southern Methodist University.
But they also make it clear that Hicks was a political neophyte as Trump was in the beginning stages of launching a presidential campaign.
Lewandowski had invited Hicks to join ‘the boss,’ as he refers to Trump, on a trip to South Carolina, an early primary state.
That excursion got canceled thanks to weather, so Lewandowski asked her again to join them, this time in Iowa, the state that holds the first presidential vote, in the form of caucuses.
‘Is there going to be golf?’ she asked.
It took a face-to-face meeting with Trump for Hicks to finally get the gist of the job the now-president had in mind.
‘I’m going to Iowa this weekend and you’re going to be the press secretary for my campaign,’ Trump told Hicks.
She replied, ‘Which one?’
‘The Doral marketing campaign?’ she asked, name-dropping one of Trump’s golf courses.
Trump answered in the negative.
‘My presidential campaign! I’m running for president,’ Trump said.
In the book, Lewandowski wrote what Hicks’ thoughts were at that moment: ‘OK, sure, Hope thought. Me too.’
In the book, Lewandowski, who previously worked for the Koch brothers, also outed Hicks for not knowing who they were.
Hicks, he said, asked him if he knew Danny Masters.
‘He’s worked for Coke for a while,’ she said.