Mr Nixon at the White House.
Thanksgiving 2020 came and went, and as Nick had suggested to Ethan, the whole world did indeed seem thankful for the change at the White House. Even the most hard line of the Republicans were trying to put some distance between themselves and their soon to be former President; he was never seen now, and had even gone silent on Twitter. His duties were being covered by the Vice President. The day after the big holiday, as the nation digested just how much government money had been appropriated for works at Mar-a-Lago, Trent received a phone call asking him to attend a meeting at the Democrat Party headquarters on Monday at 10am, to discuss what they called recent issues. Burt knew nothing about it, but he did not think that Trent had anything to be concerned about.
"If it was a meeting at which they intended to punish you, then it would have happened long before now, and I would have been informed as your employer beforehand. I would suspect that they just might want you to answer a few questions about the note, and any suspicions that you might have about who it came from; anyone you know in the White House that would know were you lived. Or it might just be to talk about just how drunk you were on election night…"
Burt had meant the last line as a joke, but it did nothing to ease the fear that started to grow in Trent's head over the weekend. On Monday morning, as he ate his breakfast, he could not help but feel like the condemned man. Rory could sense that he was stressed, but his kind words did little to help, although the usual goodbye kiss was longer than normal… At the reception desk, he got no further indications as to what was going on; he was just shown into an interview room, which was empty, and was told to take a seat and wait for the interviewers to arrive… He did as he was bid, and sat there, a bundle of nerves, until the door opened and in walked…
By 1pm, Rory and Burt were both growing more than a little concerned. They had heard nothing from Trent, and both were coming to the conclusion that a meeting that had lasted for three hours had to have been more serious than they imagined. Rory was starting to think that he should have insisted on going with his husband, as then he would at least know the worst by now; as for Burt, he was on the point of calling up to ask what was happening to his assistant. At that moment, just as he reached for the phone, the door opened, and Trent walked in, looking dazed but happy.
"I am sorry that I have been so long, and that I didn't call; it was quite the experience," Trent said as he took his seat.
"Is it bad?" Rory asked with concern, coming over to kneel by his husband, his eyes and Burt's meeting, filled with worry.
"No, it wasn't bad; quite the opposite. First off, it wasn't some party worker that wanted to interview me, it was the new Vice President Elect. She knew exactly what I had done that night, and also my entire history from my freshman year at Dalton onwards. We talked a lot about my life so far; about you, Rory; and then we discussed my hopes for the future, including our plans to start a family. Then she came out with it, the purpose of our meeting. They are building a new team of speech writers and aides for the Presidential team at the White House, and basically, they have just offered me a very junior role in that team. In a nutshell, they want me to write speeches for President Kennedy…
There was a moment of silence whilst Burt and Rory just looked at each other in shock, before the former found his voice. "That is quite something, young man; to be invited to join a President's close team at your age is unusual. I will miss having you around in the office, but it isn't like I won't still see you, and I will hear all about you from your husband."
"Burt, I didn't accept the job. I told the Vice President that I was flattered, honoured, but that I needed time to think about it and have a proper discussion with you and Rory. For a start, this position will not be as simple as the one I have now. Working for you, Burt, I get most of my weekends off, but that will not always be the case if I am working in the West Wing. There will be more late nights, more early mornings and even the prospect of foreign travel to contend with. The level of security is much, much higher, and so is the danger. Finally, as we all know, it is not forever. In four years time, I might be out of a job, although hopefully it will be at eight years. What do I do then?" asked Trent.
"I very much doubt that you would have any problem finding a new position in eight years time with the words White House Speechwriter on your résumé," Rory replied quietly. "I admit that I am more than a little jealous of the fact that you are getting this opportunity; and I will miss seeing you everyday at work, although maybe in the long run that isn't such a bad thing… I will back whatever choice you make; however, if you do decide not to take it, tell them there is a charming young Irishman waiting in the wings that would do it like a shot…"
Burt let out a chuckle at that, and soon Trent was laughing too, whilst shaking his head at his grinning husband. "I don't think it quite works like that, my love. I did tell them that we were going to be having a child of our own in the very near future, but she assured me that they would accommodate that; in fact, I could even work from home most days. They also said that they would share their diary for me with Burt so that one of us would always be free… I guess the big thing that frightens me about all of this, and I say this with no offence to you, Burt, if I take this role, my speeches will be analysed by the whole world's media…"
"No offence taken, son," Burt said with a smile. "It is a much more high profile job, but they wouldn't have offered it to you if they didn't think you had the capability, and I certainly believe you do. However, the decision isn't up to me; it is for you and Rory to decide what to do about this offer. If you do decide to take this, then I will miss you, but Rory and I will manage until we can find someone new to replace you. If you can think of anyone, then let me know…"
Trent found it hard to concentrate on his work that afternoon; both his husband and Burt could sense that, and when it came to the time that Burt had to head to the House for a meeting, he insisted that Trent remain behind. "When we are done, we will give you a call, then you and Rory can come and have dinner with me and Carole. She is always happy to see you, so I will accept no arguments." Trent offered none, and then, with a kiss on the cheek from Rory, he found himself alone in the office, his thought immediately turning back to the opportunity he had been offered… When he felt the draught, it was not unexpected, and he knew who it would be; to his surprise though, Wes was not alone.
"I hear that congratulations are in order, Robin; I also know however that you will be being plagued by the same self doubt that often held you back at Dalton," Wes said with a sympathetic smile.
"Trent, you were the one that stood up to Hunter and was prepared to lose all of his friends, just to ensure that justice was done. Then in the aftermath, you went on to take the lead and hold all of those people together. Without your strength of character and courage then, who knows how all of this might have ended up?" said Blaine, earning himself a nod from Wes.
"You have the rare talent to be down to earth about the most complicated of things, and can put quite complex ideas into simple words that people can understand, as does Rory. It seems such a pity that you do not get to show that talent much more widely. Rory knows that he has to stay with my dad, but all both of them want is to see you soar to the heights you deserve to be in," added Kurt.
"I am of the opinion that if you don't accept, you will spend the rest of your life from this day onwards wondering, what if?" said Wes. "We all need to leave our comfort zones sometime, although I can hardly talk… I often wonder how life would have gone had I romanced my Thaddie from the day I met him and realised that he was the one for me. As Burt said though, the choice is not ours to make; ultimately, that all falls to you…"
"I know that you are right guys, but the whole idea scares me. It puts me in the spotlight, and you all know how much I hate that. Also, when I write speeches for Burt, I have Rory to bounce my ideas off; what if I can't do it without that support? I do write the speeches, but then he reads them through, and he is not afraid to be harsh and critical."
"So tell them that if you accept the post, you will still need to be able to do that. I am sure it is not unusual for a speechwriter to share things with a spouse," reasoned Wes. "However, if they do say no, then you can always just show me your drafts. I can be every bit as critical, I have a gavel to wield, and the best bit is that no-one need ever know…" Wes then winked conspiratorially at Trent, and that made them all laugh.
"Actually, if you were able to do that, even if they say yes to Rory, then it would be wonderful, particularly when I am not feeling confident," said Trent, suddenly feeling a lot happier about the prospect. "It would make things so much easier, and to be honest, I always pictured you in either the Supreme Court or the White House itself one day…"
"Yeah, President Montgomery would have been good," mused Blaine. Wes blushed as Kurt nodded in agreement, but then, when they came to mention it…
The knowledge that Wes was prepared to help him screen his speeches for the President was a great help to Trent, but it was not quite enough to help him make his final decision. He knew that Rory would be behind him, regardless of what his final choice was, as would Burt; he knew that Wes would accept things too. However, he wanted a little more input, and for that he turned to the three people he had been closest to at Dalton for their thoughts. He was pretty certain that they would all tell him to accept the offer, but he also knew that when he told them that he had doubts and what they were, they would give him an honest opinion. By luck, he discovered that all three of them were online, and able to talk to him on Skype.
The moment that they were all online in the small group chat, Jeff came straight to the point. "Okay, so why have you called this little meeting of musketeers, Trent? What has happened?" His words immediately got both Nick and Sebastian wondering the same thing.
"Nothing has happened yet, Jeff; I am merely seeking the advice of my closest and most trusted friends on what I should do about an offer that I received this morning," Trent replied calmly.
"Say no to the media, Trent! Tell them that you have no interest in revealing anything that you know about us!" Sebastian responded at once, and the fact that he had made the young man in Washington laugh.
"Actually," Trent continued once his giggles had stopped, "I have been offered a new job, and as you all know…"
"You have tremendous self-doubt, and always feel you are not the best for anything," Nick said, cutting his friend off whilst smiling wryly. "Still, in this case, I guess it all depends on what the job is you have been offered…"
"I had a meeting today with Michelle Obama, and she has offered me a role as a speechwriter for her and the President," said Trent, "and I don't know what to do for the best."
There was stunned silence for a moment, and then Sebastian whistled. "That is certainly a job offer and a half," he mused. "What with Nick at the United Nations and you in the West Wing of the White House, the world would not know what had hit it. Your folks will be pleased, and well, the Carmichaels will probably want to throw a massive party at Dalton… Now, if I know you, you are probably feeling that even considering taking the job is a betrayal of Burt, but I don't think he would see it that way. Furthermore, not working with your husband day in, day out, would be no bad thing…"
"I happen to like working with Rory; we bounce ideas off each other," replied Trent defensively.
"I am sure that you do, but much as I love him, I wouldn't want to spend all day everyday working alongside Nicky," said Jeff. "You wanted an opinion, so here is mine; take it. This job will be the making of you."
Nick had said nothing so far, and Trent now looked to him. He was looking pensive, as if he were weighing up what he was going to say in his mind carefully. "If I know you Trent, your biggest fear right now is not letting down Burt or Rory, it's something else. We all know that your are capable of doing the job you have been offered, and there is no way that you would even have been asked if they had any doubts about your flair, talent and ability with words. So I would suggest that your fear is that when it comes to the crunch, the pressure of the deadlines will get to you, and you will fall apart. With Burt, you have time to respond to the issues; you can do your research in a methodical way and then deliver the exact words that are needed. In the White House, you will not always have the luxury of time, and stylistically, you think that those speeches will need to be very different. The whole world will be waiting to hear those words after all, not just a few people in Congress or Ohio; it will be heads of state in those audiences, not just ordinary people. The fact of the matter is though that no matter who is the intended audience, they will still appreciate the honest simplicity of your style. I also wouldn't worry about time pressures, as there is a way around that. After all, most of the time there will only be two possible outcomes to a crisis; you can have a speech more or less ready for both of those sets of circumstances way in advance, and can just tailor them to fit the situation… Anyway, what do Burt and Rory think? I assume that you have told them both…"
"Yes, and they will both support me whatever I decide; Wes and the guys also came to see me, and said the same," Trent replied, his mind filled with Nick's words.
"Well, for what it is worth, I think that you should accept the offer. You are perfect for the job; what I have heard of Burt's speeches over the years have always left me full of knowledge, and inspired. If you can be every bit as inspirational, dignified, honest and clear with the information for the President as you have been with Burt, then I can see your words helping him to win a second term, and the goal of healing all the division that man has created will be met in full," said Nick with a grin.
"I second that; the few speeches of Burt's that I have heard since you started to work for him have always made so much sense to me; no jargon, no threats, just honest truths. God knows that is exactly what we need to start hearing from our President," said Sebastian.
"The same goes for me," said Jeff, with a broad smile. "When you think about it, what we four have achieved will be quite something. Nicky working at the UN, you more or less in the Oval Office, Sebastian ruling the Great White Way…"
"…and my husband wowing the art world with his talent. We will all truly have made it in the world, and who imagined that when we were in the mess in our Senior year at Dalton?" finished Nick.
"Well, if you guys are sure, then maybe I will take it… but I will call them with my decision in the morning; make them sweat a little. I don't want to appear too eager after all…" said Trent with a wink…
In the end, Trent actually held off for three more days before he finally made the call to accept the role at the White House, and then only with the caveat, which they agreed to readily, that he would be allowed to share his speeches, for review purposes only, with his husband. That acceptance was a mark of just how pleased the team that would be in the Oval Office were to have him on board; as they said to Trent, even if Rory did accidentally leak something to Burt in the course of his work, then there would be no issue, so highly regarded was the long serving congressman from Lima, Ohio in the top of the party. With him committed to the role, they informed him what his first task would be when he joined them officially in the first days of 2021; he would be writing a large part of the text of the President's Inauguration speech. That prospect threw Trent into an immediate panic; the very idea that he would be responsible for such an important speech nearly made him resign from his position before he had even started…
However, after a few deep breaths, he calmed himself, knowing that he was more than capable of producing such a document; all he had to do was think about and include the themes of responsibility, expectation, tolerance and fairness. These after all were the things that people had chosen the new President to deliver to them. He could also refer back to the text of past speeches, to the words of all those great leaders of men, elected or not, who had inspired a generation to face the challenges ahead. There were a great many of those now, after all, not least dealing with the highly controversial and toxic legacy of the soon to be former occupant of the Oval Office. He could not mention him by name in the speech, of course, as that would only stir up the very divisions that they were trying to avoid. The new way of working in the governance of the nation had to be based on consensus and compromise, otherwise they would just fall back into the mire that had lead in part to the election of Trump in the first place…
The official announcement that Trent would be taking a position in the West Wing was made by the party the following day, and it was news to most people. He had only added Thad to the small group of people he had consulted before making his decision, knowing that the Head Warbler would be the soul of discretion; he had been delighted for his friend, just as everyone else he had spoken to had predicted. After all, Trent would be able to exert just a little bit of influence on the political scene, not that the policies of the new regime would cause any of the circle of friends as much fear and stress as those of the party now leaving power…
The best news for them all was that for the first time in a long while, the Democrats were in control of both the Senate and the House at the same time as having the presidency. Some had high hopes of very radical change, but most accepted that such things would not be possible right away; the priority at first had to be the restoration of much that was lost in the bonfire of policies in the first weeks of 2017. Healthcare had to be sorted out and made available to all; education had to be dealt with too, and college made available to everyone, not just those with sufficient money, or who were prepared to take on massive debts. Immigration was a thorny issue; a fairer policy was needed, but there was no place for a free for all in the agenda. Most importantly, the party had to pay close attention to those in the heartland of the nation, to ensure that the divisions felt, rightly or wrongly, between them and those on the two coasts, could be removed. Funding would also be restored to the arts, to public broadcasting, and to the railways. Infrastructure projects, much lauded by Trump in his campaign but never delivered, would begin to be signed off before February arrived. As well as repairing the crumbling road network, there would be investment in high speed rail lines across the country, similar to the best in Europe. Yes, all of this would cost money, but if the nation was really to return to the glory days of the past and flourish, then it had to be spent…
Trent was overwhelmed by the amount of congratulations that he received, and all the love that came with it. He laughed at the reaction that he got from his grandmother-in-law in Ireland, who had called him up to pour out so much love and affection in her joy at his success that he couldn't stop grinning. He then found out that when the local newspaper had decided that it wasn't as important a news story as she believed it to be and refused to publish the news, she took out a full page advert to tell the story instead…
Thad had sung his praises non-stop on the Dalton Facebook page as they might have anticipated; however, he also feted Nick at the same time for getting his job at the U.N. and that left the latter feeling very embarrassed. As Sebastian had stated, the Carmichaels had been ecstatic at the news that one of their boys was going to be in the corridors of power, albeit in a very minor capacity; the fact that he was going to be in the West Wing had caused them both to cry when they called him, and that had ended up setting him off too.
Then it all died down, which was something that Trent was grateful for, never having loved the limelight. There was after all another big event scheduled for December; the wedding of Rachel to Sam. He was taking the approach of his big day in his stride, staying calm and collected. His family were all confirmed as attending, giving up their usual Christmas rituals to celebrate with him. He did not have the time to stress and worry, as he was busy with work; he had been praised for his performance as Willy Wonka in the reboot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and there was much speculation about his future in the gossip columns, a sure sign that his star was on the rise. He refused to accept that though, in his usual modest way; he told people that he had been lucky, and he was marrying a true star. Those words made many roll their eyes, and even retch, but then Sam knew how to handle her. As far as his wife to be was concerned, their nuptials were going to be an event that would grace the pages of both Vogue and Variety…