Sunday, September 13, 2020

Important Day!! – POTUS called me up at around 11:20 AM (Sunday) and started a diatribe about my interview on Friday with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC. He went on and on about how negative I was on the show. He said that I was great on Thursday with John Roberts (FOX) and so “what happened” to make me negative. I tried to explain to him that the entire message was not all negative. I was really saying that there is a risk with the upticks in ND, SD, MT and other states for a surge if we do not intensify the public health measures of masks, distance, crowds, etc. I emphasized that what I was saying is that we can control this without having to shut down. As soon as I mentioned the word “shut down” he went off saying we will never again shut down as if I was suggesting that we would when I was saying just the opposite. He then went off on asking about vaccines and saying that I should take credit for success instead emphasizing failures. It really was stream of consciousness. We ended the call on a friendly note, but it was clear that he did not want me to do this anymore. He mentioned whether or not I like Trump, I should not do this. I told him that I do not dislike him and he knows that. He agreed. I will either have to stay off TV or continue to disappoint him since I cannot change my message. This evening when I went up to Chef Geoff’s to pick up carry out hamburgers for me and Brett Rowland, every outdoor table serving Chef Geoff and Al Dente was occupied and every person at the tables gave me a roaring round of applause as I left Chef Geoff’s with my food. It blew me and Brett away. Very moving.