Needs help and media training badly. Past that, good sense to know to not apply additional pressure to your popular contract employee, while on another phone call with a reporter, and ask

> “Now they want to reframe the story as me threatening to fire you. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

The problem isn't his media training, the problem is his moral compass. Treat your employees with respect just as you'd treat any human being with dignity.

Honestly, that was the weirdest moment. Plenty of people are foolish enough to try to threaten reporters, including by threatening their sources - it's a bad idea, but not exceptional.

But effectively blackmailing an employee while on a call with a reporter you've already threatened? Surely even the biggest bully should be able to see how that'll work out.

(And, of course, a PR flack could probably explain how "off the record" works, and why it should have started both conversations.)

That's pretty funny - probably should have taken that approach with the second call rather than digging in further

Well, he's not wrong. He could certainly use a good PR agent.

Can't tell if most epic PR stunt ever or just plain stupid [0].

[0]: https://imgur.com/a/mUe6T