Speaking for Myself summary

December 24, 2018. It was late, and the Sanders family was exhausted.

Sarah Sanders had spent the day in the kitchen. She’d served up a memorable feast with a Southern twist: slow-cooked brisket, hash brown casserole, spaghetti squash, gravy, and a bourbon chocolate pecan pie.

Her three kids were already tucked up in bed. Bryan, her husband, had just started reading them a story when her phone rang.

“I hate to do this,” she said after hanging up, “but I have to leave.”

It was a phrase the family had gotten used to hearing over the previous 18 months. As Donald Trump’s press secretary, things were always coming up. It was Sanders’s job to deal with them – Christmas or not.

The key message in this blink is: Sanders was on the frontlines of the decision-making process for the Trump administration.

After receiving the call Sanders drove to a naval base in Maryland, where she joined Trump and his senior advisors on Air Force One – a Boeing 747 that serves as a mobile presidential command center.

Air Force One is usually lit up like a Christmas tree, but tonight was different. It took off with its lights off. Inside, all electronic devices had been disabled. The president and his inner circle were off the grid.

A Secret Service agent revealed their destination: a military base in Anbar Province, Iraq, the frontline of America’s war against the terror group ISIS. This was hostile territory, he concluded, and they should be prepared to seek cover from enemy fire after disembarking.

Luckily, Air Force One landed without incident. Sanders accompanied the president to a dining hall packed with soldiers getting ready for a Christmas feast of their own. If they couldn’t spend the evening with their families, Trump was going to give them the next best thing – a meal with America’s First Family.

The trip to Anbar wasn’t just about boosting morale. Trump was also there to authorize a final push against ISIS. He believed that defeating this notorious group in Iraq was more important than getting involved in the Syrian civil war – a course of action many senators back home were demanding.

By late March 2019, the soldiers Trump had spent Christmas night with had completed their task. ISIS had been crushed and its caliphate eradicated. They were coming home, just as the president had pledged they would. It was exactly this kind of boldness that had made Sanders want to work for Trump.