Madeleine Westerhout - Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned

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T he answer was no.

The answer was always no whenever I was asked to engage with reporters, and it didnt matter what the context was.

So naturally when I was invited to join a group of them for dinner one night in August 2019, I said no again. I had every reason to be wary.

After all, what good could possibly come of it?

Reporters are reporters. They are not your friends. They care about the story, not you.

Especially the reporters who cover the Trump White House, where I worked, a White House that has been under siege from the Fourth Estate since Donald Trump took the oath of office as president. Heck, since November 2016, when the candidate the media was pulling for, Hillary Rodham Clinton, lost.

Here we are, four years later, and many Democrats still argue that Hillary should be president because she collected the most popular votes. Nonsense. A candidate wins the election by collecting the most electoral votes, and thats what Donald Trump did.

To be fair, I have no interest in indicting the entire profession. Ive met my share of journalists who approach every assignment with an open mind, and dont allow their bias to slant their reporting. I understand why the president gets angry with themthere is a ton of fake newsthough I dont entirely agree with him that the mainstream media are the Enemy of the People.

Too many reporters, however, search only for evidence to back up the premise they begin with, and if finding it requires them to rely on anonymous sources or ignore irrefutable facts on the opposite side, so be it. The way they see it, any tactics, no matter how unethical, can be justified if they might lead to the downfall of the man they despise.

No president, at least in modern times, has been treated with more disrespect than Donald Trump.

Reporters claim that all they are interested in is telling the truth. Give me a break. They write their story first, act as judge and jury, and worry about the truth later. When they make a mistake, which is too often the case, good luck getting them to admit it.

The story is on the front page, impossible to miss. The correction is buried on an inside pageif its there at all.

I cant tell you how many times Id be sitting at my desk right outside the Oval Office and see breaking news about the president or somebody else in the administration on the screen and think, Oh, my God, I cant believe this is happening, only to find out from others in the West Wing that the report was a total fabrication.

Yet if someone like myself, who worked in the West Wing, could be misled that easily, what about the people outside of Washington who wouldnt be able to separate fact from fiction?

What bothered me more than anything was the constant stories that the president was angry the whole day, berating his aides. I had been with him from practically the moment he stepped into the Oval Office, and I can assure you that wasnt the case. Where the media came up with lies like that was beyond me.

So you can understand why I might not have been interested in having dinner with those truth tellers.

Besides, I was enjoying a much-needed rest on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, lounging by the pool at the presidents golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, roughly an hour from New York. Bedminster had been our home for the prior nine days. I wrote some emails, splashed around in the pool, soaked up the summer sun, and downed a few drinks.

The president always urged the staff to take advantage of the facilities at his properties once our work was done. We didnt need much convincing.

I was in a tremendous mood. Our trip in mid-August 2019 couldnt have gone any more smoothly.

The president was happy. The first lady was happy. The senior staff was happy. As his executive assistantthink Mrs. Landingham from The West WingI took a great deal of pride in what we accomplished. I was aware of how easily it could have gone the other way.

Donald Trump, you see, never looks forward to being away from the White House for more than a couple of days. He is frustrated by the image of him that has been spread by the pressshocking, I knowthat he doesnt work very hard. Add that to its long list of lies. He works extremely hard. Ill go as far as to say that he has more energy than everyone else in the West Wing. We could barely keep up with him.

The president often starts his workday about 6:00 a.m.he typically sleeps for only four or five hoursand some nights, he doesnt get off the phone until around midnight. He believes in returning everyones call, and I mean everyone. I cant imagine there has been anyone in that office who has made himself more available.

Furthermore, he adores everything about the White House. Which is why it is outrageous that people suggest he doesnt enjoy being president. He enjoys it very much.

This is someone who didnt need the job, who took it on only because he loves his country and believed he was the right man to turn things around. He could have gone on as the celebrity he had been for much of his adult life, admired for the most part, and no one would have given it a second thought.

Instead, he ran for president, the most demanding job in the world, against overwhelming odds and put his legacy on the line.

The history of the institution itself is never lost on him. When he had a guest in the Oval Office, he often told me, Madeleine, get the picture of John-John. He was referring to the famous photo from the early 1960s of President John F. Kennedys two-year-old son, John-John, playing under the Resolute Desk.