(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Weird Project 2025 Secret Training Video: Appointee Survival Guide [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-01 Tips for MAGA conservatives trying to survive with their carefully-crafted bubbles intact among the unelected career Deep State bureaucrats intent on destroying White patriarchal Christianist Supremacist values just because they have a solid majority of the voters behind their empathy and competence. Project 2025 Private Training Video: Appointee Survival Guide In this video, Bethany Kozma talks with six other former Trump administration staffers about what it’s like to serve as a political appointee in the federal government. Yes, we have heard from Bethany several times in this series. TL;DR Six more Trumpistas without last names in the audio, but mostly identified in text overlays, and 10 tips. Katie [Sullivan] served in the Trump administration at the Department of Justice Matthew [Mangiaracina] who worked in the Trump administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and then moved over to the Department of the interior in executive role as the White House liaison Pam [Pryor] worked on the 2016 Trump campaign and went on to serve on beachhead at the state department during the transition, and stayed until the final hour Max [Primorac] served twice in the federal government first at the US Department of State during the George W Bush Administration and more recently at the US agency for International Development in the Trump Administration John [Zadrozny] spent some time at the White House the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security Kristen [Eichamer] served as Deputy press secretary during most of the Trump administration Know the president's policy positions Think before you speak or act Learn the lingo Learn how to navigate your department your agency and the culture of the federal government Connect with political appointees in your agency and across the administration Know the hill and build collaborative relationships Partner with civil society organizations Do not let career bureaucrats hinder you from advancing the president's agenda Be on guard and get ahead of the false narrative being pushed by the media Always support the president and work to advance his agenda Transcript 0:18 Welcome to the Political Appointee Survival Guide training. I'm Bethany Kozma. I had the privilege of serving as a political appointee in two Republican administrations, the most recent being the Trump Administration. This training is focused on helping you not only survive as a new political appointee but to thrive. As if. 0:43 [Text overlay] The Conservative Movement presents [Presidential quotations, mostly from inaugural addresses] [Reagan] This every 4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. …that will never happen again if we have anything to say about it. [Trump] In America we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. [JFK] Only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. [FDR] This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. Because of the New Deal. [Reagan] Whether we go forward together with courage, or turn back to policies that weakened our economy, diminished our leadership in the world, America's future will be in your hands. Like Voodoo Reaganomics and Iran-Contra, right? 1:42 Now you may be wondering why do I even need a survival guide? Could it be because the Republican Party is committing suicide? 1:47 Well, recently the Heritage Foundation published a study examining Federal campaign contributions made by career employees at USAID during the 2020 Presidential election. Note that USAID sees the consequences of Trumpism up close and personal every day. 2:01 The study showed that over 96% of donations went towards Democratic candidates. 2:14 You are walking into an environment where 96% of your colleagues voted for the other candidate. 2:20 While no amount of training can ever fully prepare everyone for every situation I invited six former political appointees from the Trump Administration to share with you our top 10 tips learned firsthand to help you avoid the pitfalls and survive the persecution that unfortunately many of us experience. Oooh, I have one! Quit the Republican Party, and don’t go down with the ship. 2:45 The 10 tips you will learn today are all bits of information I wish I'd known before serving in the Trump Administration even before I arrived. The careers already had it out for me they tried to keep me from being hired two weeks after I started. Actually, we tried to keep you all out since Trump hired actiors to pretend to be his supporters when he came down his golden escalator. 2:59 BuzzFeed did a hit piece on me fueled by information that was leaked about my past advocacy standing up for my children's safety against the radical gender ideology and Fairfax in Lowden County Public Schools. Aw, we haz a sadz for you, you lowlife bigot. 3:11 I had a huge Target on my back 1nevertheless I was privileged to join USAID as the senior advisor for women's empowerment That’s Senior Advisor for Women’s Oppression on Earth 1. and despite all the hostility and attacks and there were many I thrived ultimately rising to Deputy Chief of Staff at USAID, all the while advancing President Trump's [Music] policies. 3:41 Your first tip for survival is to know the President's policy positions. How? Even he doesn’t knw what they are. Or maybe this just means the delusional Project 2025 policy positions. 3:48 No matter what job you are selected for whatever department, agency, or office, it's imperative to have a high-level view of the President's position on every area of policy. 4:03 You may be working on issues that have a domestic focus but it's equally important to know their foreign policy positions. 4:11 Domestic policy affects foreign policy and vice versa. 4:16 In one way or another each policy position is interrelated to another even if it's not clear at first and if you want to be more informed on the President's policy positions I would recommend listening to speeches and interviews and reading tweets and executive orders. 4:23 During the Trump Administration I attended the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. 4:36 During negotiations the topic of sovereignty came up. Like sovereignty in Afghanistan or North Korea? 4:42 The US career negotiator vocally opposed sovereignty, which completely went against the US position. 4:47 I vividly remember leaning over to tell the negotiator that she needed to change the position for the record because President Trump did support national sovereignty and in fact used the word sovereignty 21 times during his speech at the UN just 6 months earlier. Oh, yeah, the one that got comprehensively laughed at. 5:05 Had I not been aware of this fact in the US position it would have been embarrassing to the United States and downright detrimental to our negotiating position on other matters. 5:17 So no matter the topic, life, energy, trade, defense, abortion, gender ideology,climate change, Israel, whatever the topic may be make sure that you are read up. Listen up and reflect the President's position at every opportunity particularly in the field and the area for which you're serving. 5:36 Knowing the president's policy positions will not only help you survive but thrive. 5:45 [Music] Your second tip is to think before you speak write or act. You lost me at “think”. 5:56 As a political appointee serving at the pleasure of the President you are a de facto Ambassador for for the President. 6:02 Whatever you say,whatever you write, whatever you do, reflects not only on you but also the President. 6:07 Your number one job as an appointee is to carry forward and implement the President's agenda and policy, to be extensions of his leadership. 6:19 As such we must always be mindful that others are watching and seeking to discredit, derail, and even damage actions and outcomes that the President seeks to take. A large majority disapproves of his policies, but only a modest majority plans to vote against him. I can’t explain that. 6:31 As political appointees we are a unique group of about 4,000 individuals who are entrusted to lead and guide millions of government employees for the benefit of all Americans. For an extremely small value of “all”. 6:42 What we say matters,what we write matters, what we do matters. 6:49 We must always be on our guard with our words knowing that we will reflect either positively or negatively on the President. Too late! 7:00 People are listening and all the time even when we don't think others are paying attention they are 7:13 Our blog posts, articles, books, publication, old school papers, work reports, resumés, testimonies, even our photos, both past and present, are searched for and sifted through by the Left in an effort to discredit us, attack the President, or damage what is being worked on in order to advance their alternative agendas. Yes, it’s called “opposition research”. Don’t pretend you aren’t looking for “gotchas”, Rs. 7:24 Make sure that you curtail your social media and remove items that are in any way damaging, vulgar or contradict the policies you are there to implement. If you have to tell your people that, you lose. 7:37 Do that now before you are appointed if you don't want to end up having to explain something you said or wrote to your mother or the President then don't. 7:42 In the same manner how we act carries tremendous weight in how we're perceived and how well we represent the President. MAGAs represent Trump just fine. 7:57 Our actions both publicly and privately must be impeccable. 👆👆😂😂👆👆 8:11 By being appointees you are by default under the microscope, and everything you do eventually can become public and likely will. 8:18 I don't want to alarm you but simply remind you to always be on be alert and be above reproach. 8:24 Not only will you reflect highly upon yourself, your colleagues, and the President, you will be able to overcome the Left's attacks and thrive while doing[Music] so. The Left’s attacks? How about your own attacks on each other? 8:35 Your next tip comes from my dear friend Katie who left her job as a state trial court judge to serve in the Trump administration at the Department of Justice. 8:53 Katie, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you Bethany it's such a pleasure. 8:59 Katie had a few positions during the Trump Administration notably the principal deputy Assistant Attorney General running the Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice. 9:05 Are you glad that you made the leap? 9:11 Oh, I am Bethany.There is nothing no greater honor than serving the President of the United States. 9:18 Uh, it was the greatest honor of my life even though it's a lot of hard work. I found it to uh be true that one year as a political is like 5 years in normal work time. 9:30 Uh, you're not onlyr epresenting the President uh and in my case the Attorney General uh you're also navigating the waters of the Federal workforce. 9:35 I had never worked in the Federal government and I had to learn very quickly. 9:51 Katie is there a top tip that you would share with new political apointees​? Yes. Learn the lingo. I believe a smart way to approach Federal service is apolitical is to look at it like you're learning a foreign language especially if you're coming into service like I did with little or no experience with the Federal government. 10:03 Uh, Federal employees use a lot of acronyms and my very first job I was I was at an executive level and on my first day you know the staff was trying to brief me and they just used acronym after acronym and I was trying to Google under the table so I could look you know very competent to them until I realized you know people in the middle of the country don't talk like that. 10:28 And so when you are serving the public, when you're serving the citizens of this country,as a Federal employee should speak like they do. 10:40 So I asked them to stop using acronyms and actually use the words. Um and that was very helpful. 10:46 Katie that's great advice. 10:52 Yeah, and you know Bethany there's also nuances to the phrases and words um which are used universally um and you have to figure out how they are applicable. 10:58 Uh for instance when a Federal employee uh uses the word policy they're typically using a policy to say why they can't uh uh perform a task that you've asked them to do. 11:11 Um, this policy is something that was probably developed internally prior to you getting there by the last administration or even years and years before. 11:22 With that what do you do if this policy exists? 11:29 So what do you do? Yeah. 11:35 And in that case you ask for the policy and you ask to see it in writing and it's somewhat stunning how that you find that frequently they cannot provide that in writing. 11:40 I've heard that. 11:48 So then you try to look back historically. Where did this policy, where did it emanate from? 11:54 And so what you first do is, if you can get it in writing, you look at it and then you see if you can either redact it if it's an internal policy and you can say this is no longer the policy. 12:01 You can replace it it with something that is more in line with the President that you'reserving and and his or her priorities. 12:06 Um, or if it's not in writing, then at that point you can say, “This is a policy that you've been following but it's not actually a policy that's on the books,” and inform everyone we will no longer be following that policy. 12:19 And actually, the Federal employees, once you were able to speak their language, um were very responsive and had an easier time with changes. 12:31 Interesting. So it's all about learn the lingo to be able to speak their language. 12:38 Yes, definitely. 12:44 Um, sometimes you need to go a step further because there's also things that they are called guidance documents. 12:50 Now I know in our administration there the Office of Management and Budget worked very hard to cut back on all guidance documents because they really don't have the force of effective law. 12:55 A guidance document is just a Federal employee’s interpretation of a piece of legislation, a rule, a regulation, an appropriation from Congress. 13:14 It's just the way that they are interpreting it but then when it goes up it feels very official to people say who are looking for guidance on a rule. 13:21 Right. 13:28 You know in the middle of the country or someone who's trying to get grant money they're going to look at these guidance documents as the rule of the land and really in the end only the courts can decide and of course being a former judge that was really confusing to me how these guidance documents were somehow more powerful than the courts. 13:42 Um, so we were able to get rid of you know quite a few of the guidance documents that give Federal employees a tremendous amount of power. 13:54 Great point, Katie. 14:00 So what if what if the policy is coming from higher ups or even political appointees? 14:06 That actually happened when I was in office. So I had uh six political appointees who answered up to me and when I arrived at the Office of Justice Programs um they informed me that their Top Security clearances, while they were completely cleared to get the security clearances they had not been implemented. 14:29 And so I went to, I ran, this was a Bureau so I had my own administrative staff, so I went to them and said, you know, why not? 14:37 Well, it turned out that the Deputy Attorney General had instituted a policy saying that he wanted to cut down on the number of clearances in um in the the Department of Justice. 14:50 Makes sense. 14:57 Um, however the Deputy Attorney General did not mean that politicals who were brought in to supervise federal employees who had clearances should not get clearances. 15:03 So in that particular case I couldn't change the policy. I couldn't take down the guidance document, it was written by someone else. 15:10 So I had to just find another way in which to communicate with the Federal employees and let them know that um our Top Security clearances needed to be uh implemented. 15:22 And the way that I did that was to have them come up with a list of all the staff in the building who did had active clearances and then show them that the politicals in the office were actually supervising these individuals which means a Federal employee is not going to, would not be able to, brief someone on Top Security information. 15:48 That makes no sense.The political is the you know highest authority in the office and so our Top Security clearances were implemented within two weeks. 15:56 Tha t's great. I love the very creative solution to that kind of insane problem that youhad. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that story. Thank you. 16:02 [Music] Bethany now we're going to hear from Matthew who worked in the Trump administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and then moved over to the Department of the Interior in executive role as the White House liaison 16:21 Matthew, if you had to narrow your experience down to one tip for survival, what would that be? 16:26 First let me say that serving the President of the United United States is the opportunity of a lifetime. 16:31 It requires enthusiasm, hard work, and you have to have a true desire to represent the President and his policies every single day when you come in. Yes, you have to be a true wakaMAGA. So if you can do that you're off to a great start. 16:44 That said, if I had to suggest one tip for survival, it would be learn how to navigate your department, your agency, and the culture of the Federal government. 16:49 It's important to understand that, when starting your career as a political appointee or you're working in an agency for the first time, experience is going to be your best teacher. 17:00 How was that valuable, that experience, because you didn't serve in the Federal government before so can you elaborate on that? 17:07 Yeah, absolutely. So when I came in I was given advice all the time about you know this i show it works uh in a general sense, 17:14 and then when I came in and I was in my my Department what I found was that in in talking to both career civil service and political appointees you just learn, you know, here's the written rules, here are the unwritten rules, and a lot of the times you have to be careful even about what they say,or written rules might not be written rules, and I think because a lot of the times it can go on where where someone tells you how something works and it things get lost in translation whatever it is. 17:34 So you have to find out what the rules really are, and understand that if there are unwritten rules how if they're a hindrance, how you can work around them. 17:54 So it's a common misunderstanding amongst new appointees myself included at the time that if you know everything there is to know about health policy for example you will be immediately successful in a policy position atyou know Department of Health and Human Services. 18:01 The reality is that you can know everything there is to know about that policy but you're really not going to get much done without knowing the rules of the Agency. 18:13 Right. Roadblocks are everywhere. 18:19 Uh, the first thing that I came to understand when I was in there was how much power the Executive branch is effectively given from Congress. 18:26 So for better or for worse there's wide latitude on policies, rules, the regulations, all these things that determine uh how laws are carried out in the executive branch. 18:31 And it's your job to ensure that that power is executed responsibly and in line with the President's will. Well, you’ve contradicted yourself there. 18:45 So Matthew how do you get to that point? Yeah. So the way todo that really is that you have to learn how to navigate theDepartment, the agency, and then the culture of the Federalgovernment. Right. 18:50 So you know that you're going to be dealing with your career Civil Service employees you have to understand the relationship that they have to you and then also understand the relationship of you with your fellow political appointees. 18:57 And that's why Isaid it was good to have people that you can trust uh political appointees. 19:03 You know you you can't take for granted that they are going to be in line with… Absolutely. with the President. 19:10 Right, right. So you have to be sort of wary about that unfortunately. 19:16 Shortly after joining the Presidential administration and Federal government for the first time I was promoted to an executive role in a new office. 19:23 I quickly realized that I just didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. 19:30 Um, and I was at anew Agency so I was—so identifying Personnel that I could trust was crucial to learning just the most basic policies agency structure all those rules that guide what you're doing day to day so that you then get to that point where you say here's where my policy expertise comes in, now we're executing now the ball's rolling. 19:50 Um, you'll also find that there probably isn't a single person in your entire agency who knows all the policies, rules, regulations, guidelines, memorized. 20:02 So you can often waste time asking around. You get no answers, or you eventually get an answer that you might find later is incorrect. 20:08 Um, I found so when I was at Housing and Urban Development uh part of our job was to administer funds for various grant programs. 20:14 So you know we were like drafting, reviewing, executing all these policies and conditions for receiving funds. 20:21 These documents are often formulated by and then reviewed by expert staff who are career civil service. 20:27 So for example it was common to find that there's these norms and rules within documents you know uh stipulations about people who get funding that were explicitly contrary to the will of the President. 20:33 Uh, so having an understanding of exactly where and how those policies can be corrected to align with the President when the paper's moving very quickly and you have to get it done, it's just it's essential to being effective. 20:58 So it sounds like you really need to know the President's policies, which was our first point. Our number one tip is to know the President's policies. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you so [Music] much. 21:05 We heard from Katie about learning the lingo and from Matt about learning how to navigate your department. 21:10 The next three tips for survival are all about the importance of relationships. 21:15 Here with us to highlight the first relationship is my friend Pam. 21:22 Pam worked on the 2016 Trump campaign and went on to serve on beach head at the State Department during the transition. 21:27 Pam, you started on day one of the Trump Administration and you stayed until the final hour. Yeah, shocking that I made it. 21:34 Yes, it's amazing. 21:39 It is. It's wonderful, and you served as a Senior Advisor in several different Bureaus and then the the last position you were the Acting Assistant Secretary of the International Organizations. Is that right? Yes. 21:52 What would be your ike main tip that you would like to pass on to new political appointees? 21:57 Well, first off, it was such a pleasure to get to serve the President and to get to serve with you for a while too. 22:02 That was fun, too,but you know I think the most important thing is to connect with political appointees not only in your agency but across the agencies. 22:09 The State Department is a particularly challenging Bureau uh especially in the last uh administration because what we have to remember is that uh the Secretary of State had been President Trump's opponent. 22:29 She had just serveis there so we were walking into a fairly hostile environment, to say the least, of folks who had just concluded working with her and um you know we--it just happened that the numbers were pretty thin for about oh the first month. 22:45 I started um in the International Religious Freedom Office first. 22:50 I was the only person there until I got a junior Assistant and even just having one other political appointee, Bethany it made so much difference! 22:57 Uh you know going out two by two is, uh, it's it's a really pretty vital truth that we should always have a buddy with us and there's an old saying, “You should never go to the Forum alone,” and having two political appointees together just made a huge difference and it's really important to find other political appointees across other agencies. 23:20 USAID and State were kind of sisters if you would but even connecting with people at the National Security Agency, um Department of Defense, it was important that we do that. 23:27 And this is simple but return every call and every email and you know what? That's going to serve you in life, not just as a political appointee. 23:33 At State I set up something called Coffee Time. 23:46 I remember that yeah I think you came a couple times. It was a a pre-work Bible study and to be honest it wouldn't have been politically correct to call it that and it grew to include a time of networking for several of of of us at State. 23:51 We shared challenges. We even helped each other find furniture and lamps and things like that and we found comfort in meeting together. 23:58 You know it's so essential for political appointees to meet together in some fashion not to hide from the career or hide things from them but there's just some things that you need to say in the confines of of with fellow politicals. So you’re going to not hide from the careers by hiding from them, and only inviting in Christians. That’s so you! 24:18 And yeah by the way Bethany that Coffee Time is still going on… Wow! 24:25 today so it's been a good time. That's great! 24:33 I do remember attending several of those with you and it was great to meet folks at the Department that I didn't know and I do remember even being a tough collaborate with a lot of those folks got a lot of business done during that time. 24:40 We did, we did. So how did you win over the career people? 24:46 Yeah, okay, not that easy and not that hard. 24:51 I always like to quot quote that great theologian and political philosopher Tim McGraw A Democrat. who says, uh in his song, “Always be humble and kind.” I think political appointees sometimes get a bad rap for being nasty um and even though many bureaucrats are against us and it's just a fact of life it's just the tension here in Washington uh we can also accomplish a lot by remembering how to treat people. You? You make me laugh. 25:09 Being humble and kind is really a powerful ploy Oh, a ploy! I get it now. and by the way the right thing to do. 25:23 I think that's great advice. Thank you so [Music] much! 25:30 The next relationship I want to highlight is the relationship between political appointees and Capitol Hill. 25:35 For those who have worked with or on the Hill this tip may come as a no-brainer. 25:43 Congress serves as the alter ego for the Executive branch and must work with the President to fund and legislate policy. 25:50 For those who are new to the Legislative Branch their power, partnership, and influence can be vital to thriving as an appointee, although we'll have some more in-depth training specific to working with Congress. 25:58 Tip number six is to know the Hill and build collaborative relationships. 26:04 Take the time to research and identify the Senators and members of Congress that oversee and are interested in the issues and policies that you're working on. 26:09 For the most part each legislator serves on various Committees and Subcommittees that have unique perspectives and purse strings that can either help or hurt the President and you. 26:22 It's in our best interest to build strong collaborative bonds with both key and supportive members. 26:29 While we may not always see eye to eye it's always helpful to have friends on the Hill. Face-to-face meetings and other direct engagements help to build rapport, trust, and respect. Trust? Among them? 26:47 Routine interactions help ensure with support much more than last minute requests from strangers. 26:53 Find out what makes each of the members tick on both sides. That way you'll be best prepared. 26:59 Always take the opportunity to message and reinforce the President's agenda. Be bold and ask for help when necessary to help advance and codify the President's policy and objectives. 27:09 Policies can be readily changed, but it takes much more effort to change the [Music]law. 27:20 Tip number seven is to partner with Civil Society Organizations working for the President. 27:26 As a political appointee helping to lead and transform America being in the center of the government, why would anyone need to partner with Non-Governmental Organizations? But that's it. that's the key. They're not the government. 27:39 They're organizations that interact with and influence Civil Society, public perception, and at times government leaders. 27:45 Developing partnerships with Civil Society Organizations is a two-way street. 27:51 For them it offers additional credibility and closeness to the government, to help advance specific policies, positions, or perspectives. 27:58 For appointees they offer an alternative avenue and champion to help advance the President's policies and even sway public opinion. 28:04 Organizations like the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, and so many others are key to help reach millions of Americans. and drive many more millions away. 28:19 Their messaging can help connect and propel the President and in turn the work you're accomplishing on his behalf. 28:26 They readily have the ears of politicians, press, and the public, and can at times even help protect those under attack. 28:34 When I was representing the United States at the United Nations up in New York I was immediately under attack for sharing the Trump administration's pro-life position during a closed door meeting. 28:47 This stance unnerved the Left but it emboldened the Right. 28:53 When the Civil Society OrganizationS saw that I was firm in presenting the President's position they intervened to help thwart negative hit pieces in the press and instead highlight the sincerity of the Trump Administration to promote life, family, and religious freedom. 29:06 Obviously Civil Society Organizations have their own agendas, and at times their agendas perspectives and issues may conflict with those of the President. 29:22 Nevertheless actively working with them to foster synergies both inside government and out can be greatly beneficial for all. 29:30 They can help by being advocates, amplifiers, and allies as we all seek to advance the President's agenda for the good of the nation. 29:43 Our next two tips will help you navigate challenges surrounding career bureaucrats in the media and our last tip will equip you to support the President and advance his agenda in the midst of all of these [Music]challenges. 29:54 Now we we have Max, who served twice in the Federal government, first at the US Department of State during the George W Bush Administration, and more recently at the US Agency for International Development in the Trump Administration. 30:06 Max has had a long career in foreign policy as an NGO practitioner, government contractor, and think tank expert. That is, warmonger. 30:20 Max, what piece of advice would you give new appointees serving in a Presidential administration? 30:25 Well, Bethany it's great to see you again, and thank you uh for this opportunity. 30:31 I guess to start I think the most important thing is to understand the sacred trust that's being bestowed on you when you enter into government. 30:38 You know as a as a public servant you're working on behalf of the American people and that's 330 million people the greatest country on the planet. You are working for a solid minority of the American people. 30:45 That's just an awesome thing, isn't it? Yeah, it is. 30:50 So when you come into government especially people who are new you don't treat it as your personal affair because it's not yours exactly. 30:58 It belongs to the American people. 31:03 And um I guess you could look at it in terms of stewardship of America's government, at least your piece that you're doing, and the resources that uh that come with it. 31:12 Now, in terms of a a tip, survival tip, do not let career bureaucrats hinder you from advancing the President's agenda. Yeah, let the rest of us have our turn. 31:18 Keep in mind you're coming into a place, Washington DC, that does not share your con your conservative values. There is no such thing as conservative values, other than cash and privilege. 31:23 They're even hostile to it because you're here to do something that's not in their interest. 31:29 They're not going to be your friend and they're not going to help you succeed. 31:36 What are you doing? You're here to cut government; you're here to cut spending; you're here to cut regulations; you're here to stop the waste, fraud, and abuse that's going on. 31:43 But a lot of careers have been made from that; a lot of money has been made from that. Fiefdoms have been built around it. So you're going to get a lot of opposition here. They don’t even know what empathy and honesty are. 31:51 It's an entire industry of opposition from lobbyists, professional associations, contractor groups, and, disappointingly, faith-based organizations. That is to say, actual Christians. Not this lot that follows Jesus as their Lord and Savior devotedly all the days of their lives… Only making sure never to catch up with Him. 32:04 Yes. Why you're upending the apple cart. Right, yeah. 32:11 And whereas for the American people the government has failed and the government has wasted so much money, for the groups here in Washington DC it has worked for them. For all of the groups that Rs have defined to be the enemy, all over the country and beyond. 32:23 So I mean when you're here representing the American people, you know, consider it that you are really blessed. 32:29 You're taking on a blessed obligation, but it is also a solemn obligation, to carry out the interests of the American people. Well, it would be if it were. 32:34 Max, can you give us an example of when the bureaucracy impeded your work? 32:42 Yeah. It's when I had the privilege of uh working for Vice President Pence as his envoy to Iraq. 32:48 Now at the time President Trump had finally defeated ISIS, On which planet? Or in which universe? On Futurama, the Other Professor, Cubert Farnsworth spoke of “weapons-grade bolonium.” In 2014he Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), consisted of 59 countries plus the EU. This uh crazy and very violent a jihadist terrorist group No crazier than you lot, but admittedly much more violent. 32:54 Uh but they had taken a devastating toll on the religious minorities in fact ISIS had a campaign of genocide to exterminate the religious minorities, especially the Christians, and and and and others. They were planning an Armageddon war, with Issa/Jesus returned to lead their side against Rome and the rest of the Christians. But also Persecution of Yazidis But the Trumpish loonburgers demanded to help ONLY Christians. And uh so the White House believed that we need to help these people and uh for the Christians in particular, the churches were were very active in trying to help them go back and restart their their lives. 33:15 So we thought we take a little bit of the overall money that we were spending in Iraq to help these communities but were we shocked by by the response. At first we were told, “No, you can't give money to the churches, it's against the Constitution.” The Establishment Clause separating church and state. 33:35 And of course you know we were not idiots. Not idiots, cultists. Uh ,you know Federal government, state government, local governments, all routinely give monies to to churches uh from everything from Social Services to when you have floods and and hurricanes. And often get slapped down by the courts for it. 33:48 So we push that aside then they came up with another excuse, Need Not Creed, meaning no we don't give money to religious uh people. 33:55 And so I said well, this was a State Department person, pretty senior 34:08 I said, “Well, what if a people are being exterminated or are the target of extermination because of their creed? We still can't help them?” and he said,“No, we can't.” This is nonsense. We do help them. All of them. But you can’t go in and say that you will only help persecuted Christians. 34:15 So we pushed all of that aside, but there was one I thought very important lesson that we should not forget especially when we're talking about Washington DC and the Swamp. We’re not the Swamp. You’re the Swamp. Na nana na na. 34:27 It is it's anti-christian animus Anti-White patriarchal Christianist Nationalist Supremacist, for sure. and people come here from outside of the country where it's normal 34:35 America I think they're shocked to find that there's so much hostility to our basic uh Traditional Values. Just like on the blasphemous money: In God We Trust (All others pay cash.) 34:42 Yeah, I remember, Max, when the Vice President said on behalf of the President that we're no longer going to use UN agencies Oh, eeevil UN agencies! but USAID to implement this on behalf of the persecuted people in Iraq and never forget the next day a career bureaucrat told me randomly he can't do that. 35:05 It was amazing the resistance. 35:12 it was just unbelievable they did not want to help Christians at all. This, of course, turns out not to be the case. But I can see how this delusion would arise from the more basic delusion of Privilege. 35:19 No, and, well, we had we went ahead and did it, and uh I would direct these UN agencies on what to do and what they could not do. 35:24 So that's leadership, that's courage, that’s chutzpah, and when you're working in government especially in the international sphere where there's a lot of war and nasty things going on you have to exercise that leadership. Yes, you have to get in and make more of it. 35:31 So, Max, tell us what lessons our future political appointees can learn from the experiences. 35:38 I think there's three basic lessons that I draw from my own personal experience and that is 35:45 You're going to be told, “No, you can't do this. No you can't do that,” and I think all of us have uh had had that experience. 35:51 And I think the response is you you always take it with a grain of salt, and you ask for the documentations. Show me on paper where I can or where I or where I, or where I can't. 35:56 Um, the fact of the matter is, and this is something that that we all discover as we're in government and that is that Congress has given the bureaucracy extraordinary authorities to get things done, more quickly, more cheaply, more effectively, but the bureaucracy has no interest in doing that As if. We want to do the maximum possible good for everyone, even those who HATES IT FOREVER, because Those People will at last start to get their share. so they just ignore it and it's either because they don't want to do more work or because it's risk. 36:19 When you do something that's new or they simply don't want to don't want to do it. 36:26 So I think that's really the first one, is to understand that uh you need to get be informed 36:36 and the second is you're informed by going to other politicals especially those who have had prior government experience simply because they've gone through the bureaucratic uh wringer. 36:42 Now for people coming in for the first time government service is hard. 36:48 It's very disorienting it's very confusing. 36:54 These rules and regulations governing contracting and the budget and all of these things are very confusing. Especially if you refuse to understand the answers. 37:02 Never stop asking questions if it's five a day if it's 10 a day you ask those questions, right? It's great advice. 37:09 And then and then lastly I would say treat people with respect. 👆👆😂😂👆👆👆👆😂😂👆👆👆👆😂😂👆👆👆👆😂😂👆👆 You? 37:16 Go back to my original point, in that that sacred trust, that bond with the American people. It's not your position—the American people 37:23 You know I'm an immigrant and the American people are the most giving and kind people that is in in the world, and they would want you to treat others with respect, even if they don't treat you with respect respect. 37:29 Or even if they don't agree with you, and after some period of time when you show yourself to be, you know, competent and and and respectful, you're going to have certain folks within the bureaucracy, some who won't agree with you, but because of that, and because that they actually do subscribe to the notion that public service is beyond politics, and then even if they don't agree, they should do their job, and they're going to come out and start helping you cuz bottom line at the end of the day what's the outcome? The results that we're looking for the mission carrying out the agenda of the President of the United States. 38:08 Yes, that's great advice. 38:13 Max, thank you so much! Thank [Music] you. 38:19 We saw the impact of media bias throughout the Trump Administration Alternative Facts, you mean? No, sorry, that can’t be it—Aha! The Lying Press! and it's often difficult to navigate and counter this bias. 38:25 Joining us now is Kristen, who served as Deputy Press Secretary during most of the Trump administration. 38:30 Kristen, what was the craziest narrative that you saw at NASA? 38:36 Well, there's a lot of plot twists that came from the media during the Trump Administration. 38:44 They often took any opportunity, to be honest, to take anything out of context. 38:50 Um, in one case specifically they tried to make the President and the administration as a whole seem not only discoordinated but also just unintelligent. No trying was required. 38:56 And what I mean by that is they dissected every tweet that Trump tweeted. 39:02 Um, in one instance in particular Trump had granted NASA one of the largest budgets they had ever received an increase of 1.6 billion in an attempt to explain the the greater mission of NASA the President tweeted a phrase that said, “Mars of which the Moon is a part.” x For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2019 39:19 The media had afield day claiming that the President didn't realize that both Mars and the moon were separate entities in space, which certainly was not the case, and it was simply an attempt by the media to not only discredit the administration, but also all of those that had put years and years into their careers that were working for him. 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡 That's awful. 39:37 So for all the communications people out there what is your biggest tip for survival? When in a hole, stop digging. 39:43 I would say greatest tip that I could I could give you all is uh be on guard and get ahead of the false narrative being pushed by the media. Too late. 39:48 Political appointees should always be on their guard when it comes to messaging or at least be prepared for the backlash that will come with their roles in representing the President. 39:54 Communications is everything. 39:59 It makes or breaks a narrative and consistent messaging should be used regardless of your role and agency that you represent because we all make up a greater team. Messaging documents and rapid response are the best ways to ensure messaging remains consistent across the administration and during the Trump Administration we tried to do just that with weekly interagency meetings and calls. 40:19 During these communicators from different agencies would feel empowered to put forth their two cents and give their partner agencies an idea of what they were saying about particular issues whether it be space policy or foreign aid. 40:37 If you give the media an inch they'll take a mile, and it's important to remember that they only succeed in their career when you say something that allows them to go viral. 40:43 Today's media is not the same that it was 20 or even 10 years ago 20 years ago, when they went along with Swiftboating John Kerry? so be on your guard by preparing messaging and talking points that support your agency's mission and the mission of the administration as a whole. Show me one. Change my mind about something. 40:57 Kristen, these are great points. 41:02 Thank you so much! I wish I would have had these when I was in the Trump Administration. 41:09 I felt kind of all alone I didn't really have a lot of uh any direction in the media and I was under attack constantly for just exactly what you were saying, just staying on message, being a trump Administration appointee. Abuse over racism, misogyny, nativism, bigotry, the Big Lie, the insurrection, setting out to get Roe v. Wade overturned? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. 41:22 Um, what advice would you have to someone like myself who was called out? Repent. Um, the reporters would contact me directly, called me many times, or called me out on Twitter and tried to defame me and lie about me. 41:36 What, what advice do you have​? 41:42 Yeah I think that being defamed on Twitter is almost a badge of honor in the Trump Administration. 41:48 Um, and the unfortunate reality is that too many political appointees suffered from defamation as a result of reporting that was not entirely true. Yes, no more than 99%. 41:54 Um, but I guess that's kind of the beauty of the First Amendment is we do have that Freedom of Speech. 42:00 Um, again messaging and sticking to your talking points is going to be important to remain on message. 42:06 However, it's incredibly important for political appointees to go through media training. 42:12 Most agencies actually have this option available for their staff through their Office of Communications and this will be incredibly important for those especially those being interviewed by the press to go through. 42:19 If I can impart a little knowledge from my own media trainings I have a few common pitfalls that political appointees have suffered from in the past. 42:26 Um, there just two quick ones but never repeat the question that a reporter asks you. They intentionally want you to repeat something and they'll phrase a question that they ask you in a way to ensure you do repeat it so that they can take a sound bite and show on Twitter that you agreed with them even if you're just literally repeating that question. 42:54 Like I said it's it's manipulative and it's honestly poor journalism but it's a tactic that they often use. 42:59 Um, another piece of advice that I've learned from my own media training is when you're answering a tough question always acknowledge it, not by repeating the question but by saying something similar to or to the effect of that's a great question, and then bridging to what you want to talk about. 43:11 So for instance someone were to ask me you know why are we going to the Moon instead of Mars? 43:25 That's a great question. We're going to the Moon because we want a sustainable and reusable platform that we can use for generations to come. 43:32 They wanted me to acknowledge Mars. I didn't because I didn't fall into their pitfall. Yes, you dug your own. 43:38 That's great advice. Really appreciate that. Yeah, no, this is common practice used in interviews that will ensure you remain on message and aren't taken advantage of by the Press. 43:43 That's fabulous! Thank you. 43:50 [Music] Next we're going to hear from my friend John. John, you spent some time at the White House, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. 43:56 John, is there one piece of advice that you would like to pass on to new political appointees? 44:01 There are quite a few things I'd like to say, because there's a lot to do, but if I had to pick one I'd say it's important to remember that every single minute you're in an Administration you work for the President and have to advance his or her agenda. 44:12 There are a lot of people who are going to be in your chain of command. 44:18 There are very few people whose actual supervisor is the President of the United States. 44:24 Uh, but I think people sometimes forget that the President runs the Executive branch per Article II of the US Constitution and you work for the President and that means every day you have to make or you're fighting for the President's agenda and that's whether or not someone's helping you out or standing in your way. 44:30 How is this perspective, which I agree is vital, helpful when you're in there trying to serve the President? 44:36 Well, that's a good question, Bethany. 44:44 I would say there are two main reasons why that's important. One is it it helps you focus uh because there are a lot of distractions every day in service is very busy. 44:50 There's a lot going on. There's fun stuff, but there's also this need to remember that you are working for a President and his agenda and so that you have to fight every minute to make sure that the right thing happens on a daily basis because time is also short. 45:02 Uh, but I think another thing I would say, Bethany, is it's also uh it helps you be a little bit creative. 45:07 Uh, in a world where there's no resistance, people get a little bit lazy, but when you have to get through the bureaucracy and solve problems creativity is going to be essential to achieving your goals. 45:17 John, can you give any examples of how you ensured that the President's policies were followed in the face of resistance? 45:24 Well, I can give one general example of what we did whenever we had these issues. 45:31 So there was a a device that we would use called the uh uh Policy Coordination Committee or the PCC and what that basically means is in a situation where there were disputes among agencies uh we would all convene and try and basically work it out. 45:48 Uh, there were a lot of times, unfortunately, when agencies were either slow or resistant or sometimes just downright hostile to the President's agenda including from the cabinet level. Oh, yes. Trump set records for firing Cabinet officials who wouldn’t break the law for him. 45:53 So what you had to do in those instances, you had to put everyone in the room and basically force a result. 45:59 Now, sometimes just the pressure from the White House um being in the room ironed out the differences but sometimes not, and if you didn't get a resolution by the time it got to cabinet level officials, you at least were comforted that it got to the President's desk and then it was up to the President to make the final decision. 46:11 So I always took solace in knowing that if we did that we were doing our job. We certainly didn’t. 46:17 [Music] That wraps up our 10 tips for survival. To recap here they are again Know the President's policy positions [How, when he doesn’t?] Think before you speak write or act [You lost us at “think”.] Learn the lingo [Certainly.] Learn how to navigate your department your agency and the culture of the federal government [Certainly.] Connect with political appointees in your agency and across the administration [They mean to treat career civil servants as the worst of enemies] Know the hill and build collaborative relationships [Certainly.] Partner with civil society organizations {Yours? 🤦🏻🤦🏿‍♂️] Do not let career bureaucrats hinder you from advancing the President's agenda [Let the courts do that.] Be on guard and get ahead of the false narrative being pushed by the media [Too late.] Always support the President and work to advance his agenda [No.] 47:07 Thank you for joining us today. 47:12 I hope that you've been able to learn from our experiences so that you will be better prepared on day one as a political appointee and that you will not only survive but thrive. I would love for you to thrive by having the scales fall from your eyes and becoming a Never Trumper or a Democratic voter. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/1/2266872/-Weird-Project-2025-Secret-Training-Video-Appointee-Survival-Guide?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/