Conway joined the Trump campaign in July as an adviser and pollster, when Manafort was still in charge. But her relationship with Trump began more than 15 years earlier, when she got an apartment at Trump World Tower near the United Nations: "I sat on the condo board. That is where I really got to know him. He's very involved in his condos. He knew I was involved in politics, so he would always ask me my opinion about politics."
Conway's conversion from pollster to campaign manager came on a Friday that she describes as the low point of the campaign.
"The worst day of the campaign was Aug. 11."
Conway describes in detail a creeping malaise that filled the organization, and people wondering aloud, "Is it worth it? Can we win? Why did he say that? Who is in charge?"
When the New York Times reported Manafort may have received cash payments from a political party affiliated with Putin, the atmosphere reportedly within the campaign began to turn sour and despairing.
The next day Conway was back in Trump Tower, helping with a video shoot in which Trump "was doing different commercials and appeals and videotaped messages to groups that were holding meetings that he could not attend." They had been working on it for an hour or so and were about to leave for Pennsylvania when Trump asked everyone but her to leave the room.
After the others had gone, Conway asked Trump what was going on. "You are running against the most joyless person in presidential political history," she told the candidate, "and you don't look like you are having fun anymore."
Trump insisted he was having fun but admitted that he missed the days of the Republican primaries, when he traveled around the country and met people. "And I said, 'Well, those days are gone, because it is not the primary, it is the general [election]. But in fairness to you, sir, let's find a way to replicate that and put it into proper context for a general election strategy."
It was then that Trump offered her the job.