 | Have you seen Nigel Fischbonne's article in the current Rolling Stone? He sat down with a member of Trump's elite Diaper Changing Team to talk about his job, Trump's odd dance at rallies, and the Village People. Below is an excerpt. I sat down with Merle Shifflett recently to review a video clip that’s been circulating through social media. Donald Trump is seated at his desk. Behind him stands a line of smiling sycophants. The press corps is present, but not on camera. Trump makes some remark, some joke (?) about lowering the playing field for the poorly educated. He states that he's considering a rebrand what’s left of the Department of Education by calling it the Department of EduMcation in honor of tthe Professional Westling Moll, Linda McMahon. Suddenly there’s a distinct, low rumble on the audio, and office aides rush into view waving their arms like inflatable tube men at a used car lot. |
“Time to go,” they shout. “Everybody out! Everybody out!” They shoo all of the journalists from the Oval Office.
“What’s happening there?” I ask.
“Trump just shit himself,” said Shifflett flatly.
“Truly?”
“I’ve seen it a hundred plus times,” Shifflett admits – and he should know. Before he left his post at the White House, Shifflett was on an elite team of SS agents that made up Trump’s Diapering Changing Team, or DCT, jokingly referred to as “the Village People” by White House Staffers. That moniker will make more sense in a minute.
Shifflett points back to the video. “The DCT is comprised of four agents,” he said, “and they’ll be called in next. The office will be cleared by those aides, and then the DCT will roll in a gurney and get to work. They’d have been waiting in what’s referred to at the White House as the ‘brown room’ which is the equivalent of a ‘green room’ where scheduled guests wait before going on to a television talk show.”
“So you just wait in the ‘brown room’ all day?” I asked.
“When Trump’s on premises at the White House.”
“And how does the staff alert you when it’s time for action? Do they ring a bell or something?”
“Well, there is an orange light in the room that pops on if someone in the Oval Office remembers to push the button, but usually one of the staffers just yells down the hall, ‘YMCA.”
“YMCA? Why do they yell 'YMCA'?”
“It means ‘your man’s crapped again.”
“Really? Your man’s crapped again?”
Shifflett smiles. “Yep. They realized early on that they couldn’t yell that out down the hall because they’d never know who might be in the vicinity, so they shortened it to ‘YMCA.’ That’s why they call us ‘the Village People.’ The running joke at rallies was that when they’d play the song, ‘Y.M.C.A’ by the Village People, that was our signal that a clean up was needed in Aisle 47, so to speak”
“You mean that Trumpian theme song signifies he needs a fresh diaper?”
“Yep. And that odd little dance he does? That’s just a sign to the DCT that he needs a clean up -- fast!"
Shifflett told me that he was chosen for the DCT because of his skill at changing diapers.
“My wife gave birth to triplets,” he told me, “so I became quite adept at the quick change. My boss saw me in action with the kids one night when he was over for dinner. Soon after that he transferred me from limo duty to the DCT.”
“It was good money,” he confessed, “but I had to leave. You can only take that stench and that filthy sludge and slurry for so long. It’s foul. I mean, really, really foul.”
“Would you ever go back?” I asked.
“That all depends,” he replied – and grinned.
“What’s happening there?” I ask.
“Trump just shit himself,” said Shifflett flatly.
“Truly?”
“I’ve seen it a hundred plus times,” Shifflett admits – and he should know. Before he left his post at the White House, Shifflett was on an elite team of SS agents that made up Trump’s Diapering Changing Team, or DCT, jokingly referred to as “the Village People” by White House Staffers. That moniker will make more sense in a minute.
Shifflett points back to the video. “The DCT is comprised of four agents,” he said, “and they’ll be called in next. The office will be cleared by those aides, and then the DCT will roll in a gurney and get to work. They’d have been waiting in what’s referred to at the White House as the ‘brown room’ which is the equivalent of a ‘green room’ where scheduled guests wait before going on to a television talk show.”
“So you just wait in the ‘brown room’ all day?” I asked.
“When Trump’s on premises at the White House.”
“And how does the staff alert you when it’s time for action? Do they ring a bell or something?”
“Well, there is an orange light in the room that pops on if someone in the Oval Office remembers to push the button, but usually one of the staffers just yells down the hall, ‘YMCA.”
“YMCA? Why do they yell 'YMCA'?”
“It means ‘your man’s crapped again.”
“Really? Your man’s crapped again?”
Shifflett smiles. “Yep. They realized early on that they couldn’t yell that out down the hall because they’d never know who might be in the vicinity, so they shortened it to ‘YMCA.’ That’s why they call us ‘the Village People.’ The running joke at rallies was that when they’d play the song, ‘Y.M.C.A’ by the Village People, that was our signal that a clean up was needed in Aisle 47, so to speak”
“You mean that Trumpian theme song signifies he needs a fresh diaper?”
“Yep. And that odd little dance he does? That’s just a sign to the DCT that he needs a clean up -- fast!"
Shifflett told me that he was chosen for the DCT because of his skill at changing diapers.
“My wife gave birth to triplets,” he told me, “so I became quite adept at the quick change. My boss saw me in action with the kids one night when he was over for dinner. Soon after that he transferred me from limo duty to the DCT.”
“It was good money,” he confessed, “but I had to leave. You can only take that stench and that filthy sludge and slurry for so long. It’s foul. I mean, really, really foul.”
“Would you ever go back?” I asked.
“That all depends,” he replied – and grinned.
The interview called to mind a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson, "He has a titan Odor -- that to me," below on the left. Dickinson's poem inspired his third cousin Emily to pen her poem "They have a little Odor -- that to me," below on the right.
| By Emmett Lee Dickinson: He has a titan Odor – that to me Is dreadful – nay – ‘tis malodorous – And spiciest at changing – designate – A Habit of a Nincompoop – | By Emily Dickinson: They have a little Odor – that to me Is metre – nay – 'tis melody – And spiciest at fading – indicate – A Habit – of a Laureate – |
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