Tim Murtaugh‘s position as president Donald Trump‘s contacts director for his 2020 reelection campaign became a well-known face to some Americans. As one of Trump’s most apparent spokesmen, Murtaugh had a entrance- row seats to the most- watched battle in history.
But only four years prior, Murtaugh found himself in a completely different situation. He was jailed in 2015 for public intoxication and uncertain of his future after years of struggle with alcohol. He made the decision to stop drinking and concentrate on resolving his situation at that point.
Before joining Trump’s election campaign, Murtaugh may continue to work for Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Now, he’s running his personal communications firm. He spoke with” The Daily Signal Podcast” about his newest book,” Swing Hard in Case You Hit It: My Escape from Addiction and Shot at Redemption on the Trump Campaign,” which is out today.
Talk to the appointment, watch the video, or read an edited and written transcript below.
Rob Bluey: Tim Murtaugh, you’re the author of a new reserve,” Swing Hard in Case You Hit It”. You’re someone who our Daily Signal listeners did likely recall as a returning visitor to this program. You were the original Trump 2020 campaign communications director and the original founder and main of Line Drive Public Affairs.
Tim Murtaugh: Nice to notice you, Rob. Thanks very little. Additionally, there was a time when I visited The Heritage Foundation.
Bluey: We appreciate your efforts during that period. And I’m appreciative of you telling this tale. Take us back to in 2015. You are a prisoner in Fairfax County. It shows just how far you have come in a short amount of time.
Murtaugh: On May 16, 2015, I went out and as I liked to do at the moment, got crazy. And at that moment, I was charged with intoxicated public intoxication, something along those lines. I ended up at the Fairfax County Adult Correctional Center, which is where I ended up.
Because I was on parole for the next of my two DUIs and had 80 times of suspended prison time hanging above my head, that day was different from many other days I had been drinking too much. And if I had been found guilty of that public drunkenness charge, I would have had to spend nearly three months in prison, which would have been very much the end of the world. On Capitol Hill, I may have lost my job. I did have lost my job.
My home was about to lose all hope. My new wife did n’t know what to do with me, and so it really could have been the end of everything. And that’s the time I took my next drink, and I have never looked back.
I wrote this book for two factors. One, because when I was in recovery, I spent a lot of time in the store really buying books and only devouring them, which I did five times. They were more of an autobiography, with authors sharing their personal experiences and how they overcame their dependency struggles. I wanted to write a guide to aid people in recovery, like myself.
Another factor was that I had some criticism experts pursuing us on the Trump campaign. They were attempting to find reporters to write about me and my history again in 2020. And I thought, if I only read a book about it myself, they’ll not be able to strike me with it again.
Bluey: Was it hard for you to set it all out there?
Murtaugh: Writing it, truly, was therapeutic. I’m never sure if there is anyone in the world who is entirely aware of what I went by. My family is undoubtedly well-versed in this subject. My kids and my brother, my close friends and close friends, know large parts of it. But I do n’t know that anybody, except for me, knows everything else that I went through.
Nine years have passed since I last had my last sip. And I am aware that I might stumble across one one evening. From the moment that I received that first one, it would be on a downward spiral. Writing the book was a process that helped me keep awake for that period of time.
There is always that lingering worry that if I’m not careful, this may come back and grab me when you’ve been an addict and you’ve been able to get rid of it.
Bluey: What have you found to be effective at thwarting that desire?
Murtaugh: This is really just a tale of how I did it. It’s not totally about this. It’s half a social book, third about my life in the Trump 2020 campaign, which at the time, until this next one, was the most- watched social strategy in world history. There are a lot of details about that battle from the background.
However, the other half of the book is about both my life and my account. It’s never a how-to book; rather, it’s a story of how I got through it.
>, >, >, An Inside Takes You Behind Views of Trump’s Campaign
Because not every word of it is that damn severe, people might find some pieces of it funny or at least connect to. People like me do some absurd items when they are in the midst of everything. It really n’t be looked at as a how- to resolve- it kind of manual—just how one man got through it. That’s all it is.
Bluey: You work in a large- stress environment, social communications, and I would think being right there in the forefront on the Trump campaign was at the pinnacle of that. What were some of the techniques you found to be effective for staying focused on your work without getting sidetracked by beer?
Murtaugh: There’s a lot of stress in elections. It does n’t matter if you’re on the presidential campaign, which I was, or on lower campaigns, which I have also done. Whether they’re races on the state level, congressional, Senate, governor’s races—it does n’t matter. There’s varying volumes of stress. When you’re going through it, everything seems to be the most crucial aspect of the world.
It certainly helps to stay active. I divided the day into smaller fragments. May I get dressed up, get ready for work, and leave the house without having to quit for a drink? May I travel from my home to my job without stopping to buy a beverage? Could I survive the day without leaving elsewhere at lunch? And finally, at the end of the day, can I make it all the way house without stopping at a container to pick up a drink or to quit and find a drink?
I relied a bit on Alcoholics Anonymous, going to meetings like that. When I was having a little storm going through my head and worried that maybe I was going to wander off to the part and do something I should n’t do, I found using the Peace Prayer to be helpful. The Serenity Prayer, which I sung for 15 to 20 hours, actually helped me sort of concentrate and fall back on track.
Bluey: Family played a major part in your treatment. You come from a happy home. Your father is Danny Murtaugh, the famous director of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a two- moment World Series hero. What function does community play in the lives of those who may be struggling with alcoholism?
Murtaugh: It’s a truly large, very important component of it. My wife is a very private person, and she does n’t like to see any of these details coming out, really. But in reality, a few years ago, it was her idea to write this book. And if she had not been on board with it, I would n’t have done it. And the fact that she has joined me shows how significant she has been to me throughout my healing.
Without her, I believe there is no denying that I would possibly still be in prison or be useless. I do n’t think there’s any two ways about it. And my kids were extremely helpful in assisting me in getting into rehab.
Bluey: In 2015, you found yourself at a lower level. Therefore, in four times, you are the communications director for the most popular political battle in history. Did President Trump have any knowledge of your situation, and did the campaign’s representatives also have knowledge of what you were going over?
Murtaugh: I felt like it was my responsibility to tell them. In February 2019, I began researching the Trump strategy. Around four centuries after I had already had my final beverage, I was up. But, I did have pretty patterned history and I did have a story with law enforcement. I had two DUIs, and for the first, I received five days in jail with some day being suspended, and the next one, I received 80 days in jail. I also faced a wide range of public drunkenness and drunken-in-public fees.
Opposition scientists, and anybody who looked into it, would get all that thing in about 10 minutes. So there was n’t any point in hiding it.
When I was interviewing for Secretary Sonny Perdue, I was his communications director for the Trump presidency for two times before I joined the Trump campaign. And then when I was being considered for the Trump campaign, I told Brad Parscale, the battle boss, that very same thing. I advised the president to investigate this because it is what I’ve done in my previous and the leader needs to be aware of this.
At the time, Sonny Perdue said,” Listen, as long as you’re not drinking then, I really appreciate you telling me, you’re going to be fine”. The president liked a good redemption story, the president said as he ran it earlier and returned. He likes a nice comeback account”. He himself does n’t drink because he believes alcohol was to blame for the death of his brother, but the president was aware of it. And Brad said,” You know what? You’ve conquered it, this move on. And if anybody comes after you, I’ll walk by you”.
And he did it because numerous writers called in to report on news reports who had obtained information from opposition scientists and threatened to write about it. The leader stood by me, the battle stood by me, and Brad stood by me.
None of those stories always got written. We were able to persuade them against it and persuade them to accept that it was in the history.
Are there any tools you can suggest to those who may be currently struggling with habit?
Combination: You can always find and attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meet. And they truly are welcoming. People can enter from the road and get acquaintances who are aware of what they are going through. That was incredibly helpful to me.
If you need more than that, finally find a way to test yourself into a 28- time system. Acute therapy can be a great help for people. As for me, I went to detox five days. So sometimes it does n’t take right away.
I’d like people to read the text. It’s called” Swing Hard in Case You Hit It“, accessible on Amazon.com right now, or other shops as well. I hope they may find some fun in it, and perhaps they can look at it in a way that makes me feel special.
Bluey: Tim Murtaugh, owing so much for having the courage to share your story. We’re delighted of all that you’ve accomplished.
Murtaugh: Rob, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
