“Where are all the umbrellas?” she asked peremptorily. I stuttered a response before racing to the chief of staff’s office, where I borrowed several staffers’ umbrellas. “Four umbrellas, only four? You’re incompetent, just like the president,” she snapped, before marching outside sans umbrella. The rest of the leadership took that as their cue to also decline the umbrellas. Rep. Steny Hoyer, of Maryland, patted my shoulder sympathetically. “I know you’re trying. You’re doing a good job.”
