Ross Worthington: The speechwriter behind the State of the Union
Same show, different day.
Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets, which brings you a State of the Union preview. We explain why you need a subpoena to get Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter to spill the beans on his process. We also run the rule over the Democratic response and take a look at the odds of the president saying “discombobulator” tonight…
Ross Worthington may be the most important White House official that you have never heard of.
Tonight is his chance to shine. Or at least his words will… while he remains in the shadows.
Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter has spent weeks huddled with other top aides, drafting and redrafting the State of the Union address, sending it back and forth to the Oval Office so the president can put his own stamp on the speech.
But Worthington does it all from behind the scenes. In a White House where Trump is acknowledged as his own best communicator — throwing out social media posts around the clock, delivering speeches largely off the cuff, or even adjusting the lighting during interviews — there are no prizes for claiming credit for putting words in the president’s mouth.
But Secrets can reveal for the first time how Worthington goes about his business.
The 37-year-old monitors Trump’s Truth Social feed for useful nuggets, runs a “double-blind” fact-checking process to scrutinize key elements, liaises with other top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and domestic policy chief Vince Haley, all while deciphering Trump’s own feedback in the form of notes scribbled on computer printouts.
The White House is reluctant ever to discuss the work of the team behind the president’s speechwriters.
It took a subpoena to get Worthington to lift the curtain on his work.
“You know, our job as speechwriters was to give him what he would want if he were to spend time sitting down and writing it,” he told the House Jan. 6 committee in a 2022 deposition. “And we had various ways of understanding what that was. But, yeah, that was our goal in speechwriting. That’s the job.”
STATE OF THE UNION 2026 BINGO: FILL OUT AS YOU WATCH
Worthington graduated from Brown in 2011 and worked on Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign alongside Haley.
They joined the Trump administration in 2016 and jointly ran his speechwriting shop. When Trump returned to power last year, Worthington was named White House director of speechwriting, while Haley became director of the Domestic Policy Council.
That long association, which included writing …
Same show, different day.
Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets, which brings you a State of the Union preview. We explain why you need a subpoena to get Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter to spill the beans on his process. We also run the rule over the Democratic response and take a look at the odds of the president saying “discombobulator” tonight…
Ross Worthington may be the most important White House official that you have never heard of.
Tonight is his chance to shine. Or at least his words will… while he remains in the shadows.
Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter has spent weeks huddled with other top aides, drafting and redrafting the State of the Union address, sending it back and forth to the Oval Office so the president can put his own stamp on the speech.
But Worthington does it all from behind the scenes. In a White House where Trump is acknowledged as his own best communicator — throwing out social media posts around the clock, delivering speeches largely off the cuff, or even adjusting the lighting during interviews — there are no prizes for claiming credit for putting words in the president’s mouth.
But Secrets can reveal for the first time how Worthington goes about his business.
The 37-year-old monitors Trump’s Truth Social feed for useful nuggets, runs a “double-blind” fact-checking process to scrutinize key elements, liaises with other top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and domestic policy chief Vince Haley, all while deciphering Trump’s own feedback in the form of notes scribbled on computer printouts.
The White House is reluctant ever to discuss the work of the team behind the president’s speechwriters.
It took a subpoena to get Worthington to lift the curtain on his work.
“You know, our job as speechwriters was to give him what he would want if he were to spend time sitting down and writing it,” he told the House Jan. 6 committee in a 2022 deposition. “And we had various ways of understanding what that was. But, yeah, that was our goal in speechwriting. That’s the job.”
STATE OF THE UNION 2026 BINGO: FILL OUT AS YOU WATCH
Worthington graduated from Brown in 2011 and worked on Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign alongside Haley.
They joined the Trump administration in 2016 and jointly ran his speechwriting shop. When Trump returned to power last year, Worthington was named White House director of speechwriting, while Haley became director of the Domestic Policy Council.
That long association, which included writing …
Ross Worthington: The speechwriter behind the State of the Union
Same show, different day.
Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets, which brings you a State of the Union preview. We explain why you need a subpoena to get Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter to spill the beans on his process. We also run the rule over the Democratic response and take a look at the odds of the president saying “discombobulator” tonight…
Ross Worthington may be the most important White House official that you have never heard of.
Tonight is his chance to shine. Or at least his words will… while he remains in the shadows.
Donald Trump’s chief speechwriter has spent weeks huddled with other top aides, drafting and redrafting the State of the Union address, sending it back and forth to the Oval Office so the president can put his own stamp on the speech.
But Worthington does it all from behind the scenes. In a White House where Trump is acknowledged as his own best communicator — throwing out social media posts around the clock, delivering speeches largely off the cuff, or even adjusting the lighting during interviews — there are no prizes for claiming credit for putting words in the president’s mouth.
But Secrets can reveal for the first time how Worthington goes about his business.
The 37-year-old monitors Trump’s Truth Social feed for useful nuggets, runs a “double-blind” fact-checking process to scrutinize key elements, liaises with other top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and domestic policy chief Vince Haley, all while deciphering Trump’s own feedback in the form of notes scribbled on computer printouts.
The White House is reluctant ever to discuss the work of the team behind the president’s speechwriters.
It took a subpoena to get Worthington to lift the curtain on his work.
“You know, our job as speechwriters was to give him what he would want if he were to spend time sitting down and writing it,” he told the House Jan. 6 committee in a 2022 deposition. “And we had various ways of understanding what that was. But, yeah, that was our goal in speechwriting. That’s the job.”
STATE OF THE UNION 2026 BINGO: FILL OUT AS YOU WATCH
Worthington graduated from Brown in 2011 and worked on Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign alongside Haley.
They joined the Trump administration in 2016 and jointly ran his speechwriting shop. When Trump returned to power last year, Worthington was named White House director of speechwriting, while Haley became director of the Domestic Policy Council.
That long association, which included writing …
