Thomas Jason Stafford, 48, Donald Trump’s most important advisor, is partly responsible for the new world order that emanates from the White House. We reach the American president’s communications director at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
taz: Mr Stafford, what are you eating tonight?
TJ Stafford: Probably pork knuckle. I also go to the Oktoberfest in Munich almost every year. The knuckle there is fantastic.
Can we say you love pigs?
You know, I’m from Iowa, the Pig State. Most of America’s fattening pigs come from my homeland. Home of the Pork. My father was already a pig farmer. And by the way, preachers on Sundays.
So, as we say in German, a pig priest.
That’s good, I’ll remember that.
Your official title is “Communications Director,” but in the White House and beyond you are known simply as “Sow’s Ear.”
You know, we have a saying in American: “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear. But I am living proof to the contrary. I make gold out of pig ears.
And that with Donald Trump. How did the American president find you?
In Chicago. After a meat fair. In a hotel. At the bar. He was on the campaign trail. And I explained to him the importance of the pink animal. At first he probably thought I was gay. But he liked my passion. I was still studying at the time. In Bellingham and Vancouver. My student bar was called “The Greedy Pig”. A great shop. And while I was still at university I founded my first newspaper: “Ten Little”. Trump got it later. And then as Potus he brought me into the White House.
With what exactly kind of task?
You know, in German you have this expression: “Driving a pig through the village.” And now I’ll tell you a secret. The Trumps come from Germany, from Palatine or whatever it’s called. In any case, they were also pig farmers back then. And the motto in the family coat of arms is: “Quotidie novum sus per villam.” The father passes this on to the son on his deathbed. It was the same with Fred and Donald Trump.
And you do that every day now? Do you chase a new pig through the village every day? Isn’t this more showbiz than politics?
I could make it easy for you now and say yes. Sure Trump is a showman, but by making up the nonsense every day that keeps the world in suspense, from the Nobel Prize to Greenland, we are silently pushing through the real issues because the whole world jumps over our sticks and forgets the rest.
And can you also tell us what the next hot mess you’re coming up with is?
Shit, a good keyword. You can make a lot of money with all sorts of devotional items among Trump’s MAGA fans. Why not turn Trump’s shit into gold? The fans buy everything!
Some would call that cynical.
You know, cynicism is the humor of the powerful. But I want to give you a profound answer. Pigs have seven lives…
You mean cats?
Maybe cats too, but I don’t know anything about them. Pigs have seven lives and they are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And bringing a new, tasty dish to your plate every day is the best job in the world.
However, in some cultures the pig is not highly regarded.
I don’t want to offend these people, but anyone who doesn’t love the pig will never live in peace with themselves and others.
Then we don’t have to ask you what you want to be reborn as?
I love you Germans and your philosophical questions. But I’m not a Buddhist. When I knock on the gates of heaven one day, I will greet Peter with my favorite saying. By Bruce Willis. Only in the German version of “Die Hard”: “Yippie-Ya-Yay, pork cheek!”
Mr. Pig’s Cheeks… Sorry, Stafford, thank you for the great conversation.