Welcome to the political appointee survival guide training. I’m Bethany Kosma. I had the privilege of serving as a political appointee in 2 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.

In the eyes of many in the world, this every 4 year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. Only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive, and will prosper. 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.

Now you may be wondering, why do I even need a survival guide? Well, recently, the Heritage Foundation published a study examining federal campaign contributions made by career employees at USAID during the 2020 presidential election. The study showed that over 96 percent of donations went towards Democratic candidates. You are walking into an environment where 96% of your colleagues voted for the other candidate. While no amount of training can ever fully prepare everyone for every situation, I invited 6 former political appointees from the Trump administration to share with you our top ten tips learned firsthand to help you avoid the pitfalls and survive the persecution that, unfortunately, many of us experience.

The ten 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. 2 weeks after I started, 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 and Loudoun County Public Schools. I had a huge target on my back.

Nevertheless, I was privileged to join USAID as the senior advisor for women’s empowerment. 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 policies. Your first tip for survival is to know the president’s policy positions. 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. You may be working on issues that have a domestic focus, but it’s equally important to know their foreign policy positions.

Domestic policy affects foreign policy and vice versa. 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. During the Trump administration, I attended the commission on the status of women at the United Nations. During negotiations, the topic of sovereignty came up.

The US career negotiator vocally opposed sovereignty, which completely went against the US position. 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. 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. 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.

Knowing the president’s policy positions will not only help you survive, but thrive. Your second tip is to think before you speak, write, or act. As a political appointee serving at the pleasure of the president, you are a de facto ambassador for the president. Whatever you say, whatever you write, whatever you do reflects not only on you, but also the president. 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.

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. 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. What we say matters. What we write matters. What we do matters.

We must always be on our guard with our words, knowing that we will reflect either positively or negatively on the president. People are listening and all the time. Even when we don’t think others are paying attention, they are. Our blog posts, articles, books, publication, old school papers, work reports, resumes, 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. 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.

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. In the same manner, how we act carries tremendous weight in how we’re perceived and how well we represent the president. Our actions, both publicly and privately, must be impeccable. By being appointees, you are by default under the microscope, and everything you do eventually can become public and likely will.

I don’t want to alarm you, but simply remind you to always be on, be alert, and be above reproach. 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 so. 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. Katie, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Bethany.

It’s such a pleasure. 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. Are you glad that you made the leap? Oh, I am, Bethany.

There is nothing no greater honor than serving the president of the United States. It was the greatest honor of my life. Even though it’s a lot of hard work, I found it to, be true that 1 year as a political is like 5 years in normal work time. You’re not only representing the president, and in my case, the attorney general. You’re also navigating the waters of the federal workforce.

I had never worked in the federal government, and I had to learn very quickly. Katie, is there a top tip that you would share with new political appointees? Yes. Learn the lingo. I believe a smart way to approach federal service is a political 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.

Federal employees use a lot of acronyms. In 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. 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.

So I asked them to stop using acronyms and actually use the words. And that was very helpful. Katie, that’s great advice. Yeah. And, you know, Bethany, there’s also nuances to the phrases and words, which are used universally, and you have to figure out how they are applicable.

For instance, when a federal employee, uses the word policy, they’re typically using a policy to say why they can’t perform a task that you’ve asked them to do. This policy is something that was probably developed internally prior to you getting there by the last administration or even years years before. With that, what do you do if this policy exists? So what do you do? Yeah.

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. I’ve heard that. Then you try to look back historically where did this policy where did it emanate from? 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, you can replace it with something that is more in line with the president that you’re serving and and his or her priorities.

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. And actually, the federal employees, once you were able to speak their language, were very responsive and had an easier time with changes. Interesting. So it’s all about learn the lingo Yes. To be able to speak their language.

Yes. Definitely. Sometimes you need to go a step further because there’s also things that they are called guidance documents. And I know in our administration there, the office of management budget worked very hard to cut back on all guidance documents because they really don’t have the force or effect of law. A guidance document is just a federal employee’s interpretation of a piece of legislation, a rule, a regulation, an appropriation from Congress.

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. Right. You know, in the middle of the country or someone who’s trying to get grant money. Right.

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. 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. Great points, Katie.

So what if what if the policy is coming from higher ups or even political appointees? That actually happened when I was in office. So I had, 6 political appointees who answered up to me. And when I arrived at the office of justice programs, they informed me that their top security clearances, while they were completely cleared to get the security clearances, they had not been implemented. And so I went to Iran.

This was a bureau, so I had my own administrative staff. And so I went to them and said, you know, why not? 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, in the Department of Justice. Makes sense. 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.

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. So I had to just find another way in which to communicate with the federal employees and let them know that, our top security clearance is needed to be implemented. And the way that I did that was to have them come up with a list of all the staff in the building who 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 gonna would not be able to brief someone on top security information.

That makes no sense. The political is the, you know, highest authority in the office. And so our top security clearances were implemented within 2 weeks. That’s great. I love the very creative solution to that kind of insane problem that you had.

I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that story. Thank you, Bethany. Now we’re gonna 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. Matthew, if you had to narrow your experience down to one tip for survival, what would that be?

First, let me say that serving the president of the United States is the opportunity of a lifetime. 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. So if you can do that, you’re off to a great start. 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. 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.

How is that valuable, that experience? Because you didn’t serve in the federal government before. So can you elaborate on that? Yeah. Absolutely.

So when I came in, I was given advice all the time about, you know, this is how it works, in a general sense. 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. Mhmm. And a lot of the times, you have to be careful even about what they say are 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. 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. 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 at, you know, Department of Health and Human Services. The reality is that you can know everything there is to know about that policy, but you’re really not gonna get much done without knowing the rules of the agency. Right?

Roadblocks are everywhere. 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. So for better or for worse, there’s wide latitude on policies, rules, the regulations, all these things that determine, how laws are carried out in the executive branch. And it’s your job to ensure that that power is executed responsibly and in line with the president’s will. So, Matthew, how do you get to that point?

Yeah. So the way to do that really is that you have to learn how to navigate the department, the agency, and then the culture of the federal government. Right? So you know that you’re gonna 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.

And that’s why I said it was good to have people that you can trust. Political appointees, you know, you you can’t take for granted that they are going to be in line with Absolutely. With the president. Right? Yes.

Right? So you have to be sort of wary about that, unfortunately. Shortly after joining the presidential administration and federal government for the first time, I was promoted to an executive role in a new office. I quickly realized that I just didn’t know I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And I was at a new 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. 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. 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. I found so when I was at Housing and Urban Development, part of our job was to administer funds for various grant programs.

So, you know, we were, like, drafting, reviewing, executing all these policies and conditions for receiving funds. These documents are often formulated by and then reviewed by expert staff who are career civil service. So, for example, it was common to find that there’s these norms and rules within documents, you know, stipulations about people who get funding that were explicitly contrary to the will of the president. Mhmm. 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.

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 so much. We heard from Katie about learning the lingo and from Matt about learning how to navigate your department.

The next three tips for survival are all about the importance of relationships. Here with us to highlight the first relationship is my friend, Pam. Pam worked on the 2016 Trump campaign and went on to serve one beachhead at the state department during the transition. Pam, you started on day 1 of the Trump administration, and you stayed until the final hour. Yeah.

Shocking that I made it. Yes. Amazing. Yes. That’s wonderful.

And you served as a senior adviser in several different bureaus. And then the the last position, you were the acting assistant secretary of the International Organizations. That’s right. Is that right? Yes.

What would be your, like, main tip that you would like to pass on to new political appointees? 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. 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. The State Department is a particularly challenging bureau, especially in the last, administration, because what we have to remember is that, the secretary of state had been president Trump’s opponent.

She had just served there. So we were walking into a fairly hostile environment, to say the least, of folks who had just concluded working with her. And, you know, which it just happened that the numbers were pretty thin for about, oh, the 1st month I started, in the International Religious Freedom Office. First, 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.

You know, going out 2 by 2 is, 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 2 political appointees together just made a huge difference. And it’s really important to find other political appointees across other agencies. USAID and state were kind of sisters, if you would. But even connecting with people at the National Security Agency, Department of Defense, it was really important that we do that.

And this is simple, but return every call and every email. And you know what? That’s gonna serve you in life, not just as a political appointee. At state, I set up something called Coffee Time. I remember that.

Yeah. I think you came a couple of times. It was, a prework 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 us at state. We shared challenges.

We even helped these other fine furniture and lamps and things like that. And we found comfort in meeting together. 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. No.

Yeah. By the way, Bethany, that coffee time is still going on Wow. Today. So it’s been a good time. That’s great.

I do remember attending several of those with you and it was great to meet folks at the State Department that I didn’t know. And I do remember even being able to, collaborate with a lot of those folks. Got a lot of business done during that time. We did. We did.

So how did you win over the career people? Yeah. Okay. Not that easy and not that hard. I always like to quote quote that great theologian and political philosopher, Tim McGraw, who says, in his song, Always Be Humble and Kind.

I think political appointees sometimes get a rap bad rap for being nasty. Yeah. And even though many bureaucrats are against us, and it’s just a fact of life, it’s just the tension here in Washington. We can also accomplish a lot by remembering how to treat people. Being humble and kind is really a powerful ploy.

And, by the way, the right thing to do. I think that’s great advice. Thank you so much. The next relationship I want to highlight is the relationship between political appointees and Capitol Hill. For those who have worked with or on the hill, this tip may come as a no brainer.

Congress serves as the alter ego for the executive branch and must work with the president to fund and legislate policy. 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, tip number 6 is to know the hill and build collaborative relationships. 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. 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.

It’s in our best interest to build strong collaborative bonds with both key and supportive members. 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. Routine interactions help ensure support much more than last minute requests from strangers. Find out what makes each of the members tick on both sides.

That way, you’ll be best prepared. 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. Policies can be readily changed, but it takes much more effort to change the law. Tip number 7 is to partner with civil society organizations.

Working for the president as a political appointee, helping to lead and transform America, being in the center of the government, why would anyone need to partner with nongovernmental organizations? But that’s it. That’s the key. They’re not the government. They’re organizations that interact with and influence civil society, public perception, and at times, government leaders.

Developing partnerships with civil society organizations is a two way street. For them, it offers additional credibility and closeness to the government to help advance specific policies, positions, or perspectives. For pointees, they offer an alternative avenue and champion to help advance the president’s policies and even sway public opinion. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, and so many others are key to help reach millions of Americans. Their messaging can help connect and propel the president and, in turn, the work you’re accomplishing on his behalf.

They readily have the ears of politicians, press, and the public, and can at times even help protect those under attack. 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. This stance unnerved the left, but it emboldened the right. When the civil society organization 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. Obviously, civil society organizations have their own agendas.

And at times, their agendas, perspectives, and issues may conflict with those of the president. Nevertheless, actively working with them to foster synergies both inside government and out can be greatly beneficial for all. 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. Our next two tips will help you navigate challenges surrounding career bureaucrats and the media. And our last tip will equip you to support the president and advance his agenda in the midst of all of these challenges.

Now we have Max who served twice in the federal government. 1st 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. Max has had a long career in foreign policy as an NGO practitioner, government contractor, and think tank expert. Max, what piece of advice would you give new appointees serving in a presidential administration? Bethany, it’s great to see you again, and thank you, for this opportunity.

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. You know, as a as a public servant, you’re working on behalf of the American people, and that’s 330,000,000 people, the greatest country on the planet. That’s just an awesome thing, isn’t it? Yeah. It is.

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. It belongs to the American people. And, 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, that come with it. Now in terms of a a tip survival tip, do not let career bureaucrats hinder you from advancing the president’s agenda.

Keep in mind, you’re coming into a place, Washington, DC, that does not share your your conservative values. They’re even hostile to it because you’re here to do something that’s not in their interest. They’re not gonna be your friend, and they’re not gonna help you succeed. 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. 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 gonna get a lot of opposition here. It’s an entire industry of opposition from lobbyists, professional associations, contractor groups, and disappointingly, faith based organizations. Yes. We saw that.

You’re upending the apple cart. Right? Yeah. 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.

So I when you’re here representing the American people, you know, consider that you are really blessed. You’re taking on a blessed obligation, but it is also a solemn obligation to carry out the interest of the American people. Max, can you give us an example of when the bureaucracy impeded your work? Yeah. It’s when I had the privilege of, working for vice president Pence as his envoy to Iraq.

Now at the time, president Trump had finally defeated ISIS, this, crazy and very violent, jihadist terrorist group. 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 Christians and and and and others. Mhmm. And, so the White House believed that we need to help these people.

And, for the Christians in particular, the churches were were very active in trying to help them go back and restart their their lives. So we thought we’d take a little bit of the overall money that we were spending in Iraq to help these communities. But were 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. And, of course, you know, we were not idiots. You know, federal government, state government, local governments all routinely give monies to to churches, from everything from social services to when you have floods and hurricanes. So we pushed that aside. Then they came up with another excuse, need, not creed, meaning, no.

We don’t give money to religious, people. And so I said, well this was a state department person, pretty senior. 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. 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. It is it’s anti Christian animus. And people come here from outside of the country where it’s normal America Mhmm.

I think they’re shocked to find that there’s so much hostility to our basic, traditional values. Yeah. I remember, Max, when the vice president said on behalf of the president that we’re no longer going to use UN agencies, but USAID to implement this on behalf of the persecuted people in Iraq. And I’ll never forget the next day, a career bureaucrat told me, randomly, he can’t do that. It was amazing, the resistance.

It was just unbelievable. They did not wanna help Christians at all. No. And, well, we had we went ahead and did it. And, I would, direct these UN agencies on what to do and what they could not do.

So that’s leadership. That’s courage. 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. So, Max, tell us what lessons our future political appointees can learn from the experiences. I think there’s 3 basic lessons that I draw from my own personal experience, and that is you’re gonna be told, no.

You can’t do this. No. You can’t do that. And I think all of us have, had had that experience. And I think the response is, you know, you always take it with a grain of salt, and you ask for the documentation.

Show me on paper where I can or where I or where I or where I can’t. 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, so they just ignore it. And it’s either because they don’t wanna do more work or because it’s risk when you do something that’s new, or they simply don’t wanna don’t wanna do it. So I think that’s really the first one is to understand that, you need to get be informed.

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, ringer. Now for people coming in for the first time, government service is hard. It’s very disorienting. It’s very confusing. These rules and regulations governing contracting and the budget and all of these things are very confusing.

Never stop asking questions. If it’s 5 a day, if it’s 10 a day, you ask those questions. Right? It’s great advice. And then lastly, I would say treat people with respect.

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 you know, I’m an immigrant, and the American people are the most giving and kind people there is in in the world, and they would want you to treat others with respect even if they don’t treat you with respect 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 gonna 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 gonna come out and start helping you.

Because 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 United States. Yes. That’s great advice, Max. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We saw the impact of media bias throughout the Trump administration, and it’s often difficult to navigate and counter this bias. Joining us now is Kristin who served as deputy press secretary during most of the Trump administration. Kristen, what was the craziest narrative that you saw at NASA? Well, there’s a lot of plot twist that came from the media during the Trump administration.

They often took any opportunity, to be honest, to take anything out of context. In one case, specifically, they tried to make the president and the administration as a whole seem not only discoordinated, but also just unintelligent. And what I mean by that is they dissected every tweet that Trump tweeted. In one instance in particular, Trump had granted NASA one of the largest budgets they’d ever received, an increase of 1,600,000,000 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. The media had a field 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 years into their careers that were working for him. That’s awful. So for all the communications people out there, what is your biggest tip for survival? I would say the greatest tip that I could I could give you all is, be on guard and get ahead of the false narrative being pushed by the media. 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.

Communications is everything. 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. During these, communicators from different agencies would feel empowered to put forth their 2¢ and give their partner agencies an idea of what they were saying about particular issues, whether it be space policy or foreign aid.

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. Today’s media is not the same that it was 20 or even 10 years ago. 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. Kristen, these are great points. Thank you so much.

I wish I would have had these when I was in the Trump administration. I felt kind of all alone. I didn’t really have a lot of, any direction in the media, and I was under attack constantly for just exactly what you’re saying, just staying on message, being a Trump administration appointee. What advice would you have to someone like myself who is called out? 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.

What what advice do you have? Yeah. I think that being defamed on Twitter is almost a badge of honor in the Trump administration. And the unfortunate reality is that too many political appointees suffered from defamation as a result of reporting that was not entirely true. But I guess that’s kind of the beauty of the first amendment is we do have that freedom of speech.

Again, messaging and sticking to your talking points is gonna be important to remain on message. However, it’s incredibly important for political appointees to go through media training. 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. 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. They’re just 2 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. Like I said, it’s it’s manipulative, and it’s honestly poor journalism, but it’s a tactic that they often use. 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 wanna talk about. So for instance, someone were to ask me, you know, why are we going to the moon instead of Mars? 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. They wanted me to acknowledge Mars. I didn’t because I didn’t fall into their pitfall. 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. That’s fabulous. Thank you.

Next, we’re gonna hear from my friend John. John, you spent some time at the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. John, is there one piece of advice that you would like to pass on to new political appointees? There are quite a few things I’d like to say because there’s a lot to do. But if I had to pick 1, 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.

There are a lot of people who are going to be in your chain of command. There are very few people whose actual supervisor is the president of the United States. But I think people sometimes forget that the president runs the executive branch per article 2 of the US Constitution, and you work for the president. And that means every day you have to make sure you’re fighting for the president’s agenda. And that’s whether or not someone’s helping you out or standing in your way.

How is this perspective, which I agree is vital, helpful when you’re in there trying to serve the president? Well, that’s a good question, Bethany. I would say there are 2 main reasons why that’s important. One is it it helps you focus, because there are a lot of distractions. Every day in service is very busy.

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. But I think another thing I would say, Bethany, is it’s also, it helps you be a little bit creative. 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. John, can you give any examples of how you ensured that the president’s policies were followed in the face of resistance?

Well, I can give one general example of, what we did whenever we had these issues. So there was a a device that we would use called the, policy coordination committee or the PCC. And what that basically means is in a situation where there were disputes among agencies, we would all convene and try and basically work it out. 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. So what you had to do in those instances, you had to put everyone in the room and basically force a result.

Now sometimes just the pressure from the White House, 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. So I always took solace in knowing that if we did that, we were doing our job. That wraps up our 10 tips for survival. To recap, here they are again.

Know the president’s policy positions. Think before you speak, write, 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.

Thank you for joining us today. I hope that you’ve been able to learn from our experiences so that you will be better prepared on day 1 as a political appointee, and that you will not only survive, but thrive.