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You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / Life as a Trump Surrogate

Life as a Trump Surrogate

October 19, 2016 at 9:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Olivia Nuzzi has a great profile of Scottie Nell Hughes:

At 4 P.M. Eastern, on October 7, 2016, The Washington Post published that now infamous video from 2005, the one in which Donald Trump can be heard boasting about grabbing women “by the pussy,” because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” As far as bombshells go, it was more confirmation than revelation, but it was nonetheless a colossal tipping point. Suddenly, supporters were vanishing and high-level staffers were scrambling to pull out of television appearances—all the better to avoid having to answer for Trump in this, the campaign’s most chaotic hour. While others ran, Hughes surveyed the darkening shit storm and glimpsed something more like opportunity. With calm grace, she did what she could to save her country and preserve her career: She got in front of a camera and started talking.

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Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scottie Nell Hughes

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goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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