“They got it wrong, Chief. How did this happen? Why didn’t we make more calls? We needed to do more. Okay? We can’t let this stand,” the president raged. Mark tried to reassure the president, asserting there were still other options on the table, and he was going to figure it all out. The president pushed back. “I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing,” he said. “Figure it out.” Mark assured the president that he would work on it. I was irritated that Mark gave the president false hope. Of course, that’s what the president wanted to hear, but he was damaging the country
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