Kellyanne Conway once made Frank Luntz try on a Speedo so she and her friends could laugh at him


Long before Kellyanne Conway ever became "the greatest spin doctor in modern American history," she was "just fun," in the words of Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who met Conway in the 1980s when he was in graduate school at Oxford and she was doing an undergraduate year abroad. But as The Atlantic has learned, Conway and Luntz had an interesting definition of "fun":
One time, [Conway] and a couple of friends took Luntz shopping and made him try on a Speedo so they could laugh at him. "I've been fat for, like, 15 years, but I wasn't always fat," he told me. "Nevertheless, a guy like me should not put on a Speedo." This sounded humiliating and cruel to me, but Luntz insisted it was hilarious. [The Atlantic]
The hijinks didn't end there:
Conway went to law school at George Washington University and accepted an offer to work for a D.C. firm, but reneged when Luntz asked her to join his polling company instead. They traveled the world together, and loved to play pranks, such as pretending they were husband and wife and having a noisy argument in an elevator. After a few years, she left to start her own company. While building her business, Luntz told me, Conway said things about him that hurt his feelings, and the two didn't speak for several years. They have since reconnected. [The Atlantic]
Read more about Conway's journey to the White House in The Atlantic.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Anshu Ahuja's golden coconut and butter bean curry recipe
The Week Recommends Plump, creamy beans in a sweet, spicy sauce
-
The treasure trove of platinum on the moon
Under the radar This kind of bounty could lead to commercial exploitation
-
Sudoku medium: June 23, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read