• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 2, 2019

Mark Penn, Trump advisor.

It does seem odd, doesn’t it? I mean I’ve thought of Mark Penn, current CEO of MDC Partners, over the years as a political pollster and Clinton loyalist.

As in Bill Clinton, the former Democratic president and his wife Hillary, who has had her own distinguished political career. Or “Crooked Hillary” as the Orange-Haired-Wonder-In-Chief likes to refer to her.

And more recently, I’ve thought of Penn as a Microsoft hotshot and entrepreneur, having formed Stagwell Partners a few years back to acquire media and marketing firms.

Back in March, Penn struck a deal to invest $100 million in MDC Partners and become its CEO.

But there’s a part of him that remains a political animal. He loves the game of politics.

The ad world is all in a tizzy that Penn had the temerity to visit Trump at the White House a couple of weeks ago as first reported by The Washington Post. 

According to the Post, Trump is looking high and low for advice on how not to get thrown out of office. I guess since Penn advised Bill Clinton on similar matters, he asked for a meeting.

Penn told the Post he was not working for Trump. “It’s the second time I have ever met with the president. I’m not counseling him. I’m not advising him.” 

Ad Age quoted some anonymous MDC agency executives as saying they were outraged that Penn took the meeting with Trump. One even said he started looking for a new job once news broke that Penn would head the company. Still looking nine months later, it sounds like.

I’m no Trump supporter. In fact, I can’t stand him and feel he’s damaged the country in many ways. But I don’t condemn Penn for taking a meeting with him. According to the Post, he basically told Trump to keep quiet and govern.

Logical advice that true to form, Trump hasn’t taken. That’s a good sign. The more he keeps shooting himself in the foot, the likelier the impeachment process will succeed.