Stephanie Grisham

It wasn’t easy being a Trump administration staffer in January 2021 as the flock of political appointees were left with a difficult decision to make. They could stay loyal to the president despite the establishment outcry over his repeated claims of massive electoral fraud in the 2020 election and the events of the January 6 Capitol riot. This came at a huge risk, as multiple former Trump staffers over the years have described to me the difficulties of finding a job outside of Trumpworld at that time. Some opted to continue to work for the president in the hope that his political brand would recover — a gamble that would eventually pay off.

Things have been frantic over the last few days, as I've been forced to assist one of my bosses in working out the promotional schedule for their book release...without revealing who they are. It's tough enough to deal with TV bookers and managing editors when the author's identity is no secret — but the real exhaustion comes from the cloak-and-dagger routine of ensuring no one high up notices a 'senior administration official' moving meetings to call his (or her!) literary agents and fire off excerpts to his (or her!) buddies Rachel and Yashar. It’s a lot easier to book a senior admin official when you know they’re going to say something bad about POTUS.