 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Putahoe Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years and we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My book Beyond the Lines is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness which is what this show is all about. My special guest today has flown on Air Force One for the past 25 years covering four presidents because he is one of the top most respected journalists in the United States. He is Chief White House Correspondent John Decker and today we are going Beyond the White House. Hey John, how's everything with you? Hey Rusty, how are you doing? Good to talk to you Aloha. Oh, I miss you John. You know, I know you a few years now because of tennis and you're so knowledgeable about tennis. And I want to ask you John, what is it about tennis that you love so much? Well, it's one of those sports where it's an individual sport and you can take credit for victories and it's also on you if you lose. And when you play the game of tennis, you can turn things around. The great thing about tennis is more than one set and if you had a bad set, you can turn things around for the second set, maybe come back on the third set and win a match. But the thing I love about the game of tennis is that you can really improve upon your game the more you practice. And I just find it's also an incredible sport to watch besides playing Rusty. And you're so fortunate that you've been to all these grand slams multiple times. So which one is your favorite? Well, I love the French Open, the French Open, Roland Garros. If it was going well, it may happen this year, we'll see, right? It's been delayed because of what we're dealing with right now in our country. But if indeed it happens in 2020, it will be like 18th time and I just love that tournament. I love Clay Court Tennis. I like to play on clay. I like to watch players on clay. I've been fortunate to see Rafael Nadal, the best Clay Court player in history with everyone of his championships at Roland Garros. Having said that, I love the other ones as well. The US Open in New York City is a great event. And I love that at the end of the summer. And of course, the Australian Open is a fun time. I've only been there one time, but I look forward to going back there and wimbled it. Well, wimbled it is when there's so much tradition associated with that tournament. Well, I hope you invite me to go with you on one of these grand slam tournaments, John. Now, John, I want to ask you about how your journalism career started. I mean, why did you get into journalism? Well, I had an interesting entry into journalism because I never study journalism as an undergrad or grad school. I worked as a assistant press secretary for a US senator named John Hines. You know, John Hines from Ketchup fame. And he was someone that I really looked up to. He was my home state senator from Pennsylvania. And on April the 4th of 1991, he was killed in a plane crash. And that terrible day, of course, me to figure out what it was I wanted to do next in my life. And I thought long and hard about it. And I felt that my calling, my passion was journalism. And that's what I pursued. And that's way back in 1991. And by 1995, I was reporting from the White House. And I've been reporting for the White House ever since. And it's just been an incredible experience for us. Decovering Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Now, of course, President Donald Trump. Man, and I know you have stories, John. And I saw you on TV this week interviewing or asking some questions with President Trump. I mean, it's I like that President Trump is very mindful about trying to find that balance between really, you know, controlling the virus outbreak and really trying to get the businesses going where it just doesn't really kill the economy. But what are your observations about that? Well, this is unprecedented. You know, I was at the White House on 9 11 and after that. And this is, you know, even beyond that in terms of this affecting every American and in fact, every citizen of the world, more than 150 countries are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. And you're right, Rusty. The president is dealing with a health crisis and he's dealing in addition to that with an economic crisis because it's impacting so many of our fellow Americans. And I, you know, I'm as optimistic as the president is in the sense that I am hopeful that we, if we follow these guidelines that the CDC has put out, these social distancing guidelines, adhere to them, adhere to the guidelines and rules that are put in place by our governors and our mayors to stay in place, to shelter in place that we can defeat this and we can get back to life as normal. So the mindset that I'm supportive of what the president is saying and I'm supportive of what our governors and local leaders are saying, we need to follow those rules and follow those rules. We can get back to our old way of life. We can get back to our old economy, which we're zooming along and we can get back to life. It's going to be painful though over the course of the next few weeks, Rusty, because clearly the CDC and the NIH and the president's own health advisory, Dr. Anthony Fauci, in addition to Dr. Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, they're saying that it's going to be a very difficult time over the next few weeks in terms of fatalities, American fatalities. Yeah, John, I've been watching the news every day and I love seeing you on the news. And you've been asking, I mean, you have such great respect in the country for journalism because you ask very fair and reasonable questions. Why is that? Why are you so good at doing that, John? Well, I'm old school in the sense that I am interested in making information available to the public. I want the public to get as much information as possible and helpful information to get through this or, you know, whether we're talking about an issue that we dealt with before the coronavirus pandemic, impeachment or an executive order or learning about a Supreme Court decision. The important function, I believe, Rusty, other journalists is to convey information to the public, information that they perhaps didn't know before and ask the questions, Rusty, that if they were sitting where I was sitting, they would likely ask similar questions. And so that's my goal. And when I ask the president the questions, I'm not trying to, you know, give him a gotcha question. I just want him to provide information that will be useful, useful to Fox's viewing audience, useful to Fox's listening audience. And for that matter, useful to the entire public. And that's always been my goal, whether it's President Trump that I'm covering or whether it's his predecessors, President Obama or President Bush or President Bill Clinton. Got it. That's so impressive, John. And I want to ask you what was a key moment in your life that really vaulted your career forward? Well, I've always worked exceptionally hard. So I can't point to one particular event or one particular story. You know, I've always treated every story when I write my stories as one that I think to myself, this story is going to be my top 100% effort. And I always apply that to every story that I write. So I can't point to any particular event, Rusty or story. I treat each one equally. And I think that having that mindset, it's not like tennis, having that mindset, you know, in tennis, you want to treat each point like it's your most important point. That's, you know, my favorite player is Rafael Nadal. If you watch him play tennis, you can tell he treats each and every point, even if he's down, well, 40, as if it's the most important point in the match. And that's the way that I treat my journalism is I treat each story in that matter. Yeah, and I definitely know how hard you work, John. I mean, you are, you're a workaholic. And I like how you brought in that analogy with Nadal because I love Nadal too. And you're right. I mean, it doesn't matter what the score is. He could be winning, losing or tied, but his effort and attitude is just super. I mean, it doesn't matter. And that's why he's so great at what he does. Now, John, I want to talk about Air Force One. How awesome and cool has it been for you to be traveling on Air Force One for the past 25 years? Well, it's, it's, it's cool traveling on the same airplane as the president of the United States. It is a real honor and it's, you know, it's special. And so I'm in a rotation with my other radio colleagues. We essentially rotate to determine who's going to be filling the seat on Air Force One. And I've, you know, gone on some really remarkable trips with a number of U.S. presidents. And each one is memorable. And I feel that if you get jaded, you know, in any way rusty traveling on Air Force One and you should just pack it in, you know, just be a journalist anymore. It shouldn't be a reporter anymore. So, you know, I've traveled with a president who comes to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of a very devastating hurricane that hit the island, Hurricane Maria. He inspected the damage there. I've traveled with President Odago all the way through Israel for the general of Kimmel-Terres. And, you know, each time I'm on there, even for a domestic trip, it's very special. And the people that I travel with, my fellow colleagues, my fellow reporters and the musicians that I travel with, when we're traveling on Air Force One, we all recognize how unique it is to be traveling on the presidential aircraft. Oh, that is so fascinating. John, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond the White House, okay? That sounds great. Thanks a lot, Westie. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, John Decker. We will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha. I'm John David Ann, the host of History Lens on Think Tech Hawaii. History Lens deals with contemporary events and looks at them through a historical perspective or what we call a history lens. The show is streamed live on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Thanks so much for watching our show. We look forward to seeing you then. Mahalo and Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is one of the top most respected journalists in the United States. He is Chief White House Correspondent, John Decker. And today we are going beyond the White House. John, you know, it seems to me that President Trump likes you and he doesn't like too many people, it seems, in the White House press corps. But I think he respects you, you know, for all of these years actually. And what are your thoughts about that? Well, I first interviewed President Trump way before he was president. I interviewed him for the first time back in 1999. And I interviewed him for a book that I wrote called Great Dads. And he was in that book telling me why his father made such an impact on him. He really liked that story. So I think that that has had an impact in terms of the way that he views me. But he also knows that when he calls on me at press conferences, he's not going to get a softball. He's going to get a fair question. And I do treat the president with respect. Every president is deserving of respect. And I think that is one of the reasons why the president typically calls on me when he has a press conference. And I think long and hard about what it is I'm going to ask the president. It's not, you know, off the top of my head. I think about a question that will perhaps move the new cycle in some way or provide some information to the public that perhaps they did not know before. So that works into what I ultimately asked the president in formulating a question. Now, John, what I mean, because you've covered for presidents, I mean, they all have different styles. I mean, is there one style that's more effective than another? Or are they all effective? Well, obviously to achieve the presidency, to win the White House, you have to be doing something pretty special. And so Bill Clinton who served two terms and George W. Bush who served two terms or Barack Obama who served two terms. Donald Trump who's hoping to serve two terms. They actually obviously connected with the American people, you know, in such a way that they won the keys to the Oval Office. And so each of those presidents that I've covered the past four presidents, they each have their own style. President Trump, our current president, is very unique in terms of taking questions as often as he does from the press floor. And you may not like the answers he gives, but he is answering questions on almost a daily basis. Before we dealt with this terrible coronavirus pandemic, you know, the president would typically stop before he aborted Marine One and would take questions from the press floor that had gathered to see him off of Marine One. And that's just not anything that we have seen before, you know, Barack Obama, President Obama did not do that, George W. Bush did not do that, President Clinton did not do that. So that's very unique to President Trump. And then when the president meets with guest visitors in the Oval Office, he'll take questions there when he meets with visitors in the cabinet room or the Roosevelt room, he'll take questions there. So he's pretty unique in that regard. And I think hopefully, regardless of who the next president is and when we get the next president, you know, could be in 2021 or 2025, the next president follows that same providing ample opportunities for the press floor to ask questions to the president. No, that's fascinating how accessible President Trump is. And I want to ask you, John, you know, I know that you're the only attorney among all of the chief, I mean, out of all of the White House Press Corps, right? I mean, you're an attorney. The only one. Yeah. Yeah. So it certainly came in handy most recently, covering the impeachment of President Trump. This is the second impeachment that I covered because I covered the impeachment of Bill Clinton as well. And having that background as an attorney, as a member of the DC bar, comes in handy explaining sometimes difficult legal issues to the public, explaining difficult legal issues to our audience. And so I have often been called upon to explain those issues, whether you're talking about impeachment or executive orders or Supreme Court cases or Supreme Court decisions to the public and my background as a lawyer and being a person who can explain sometimes difficult legal concepts to the public obviously helps in explaining those difficult legal concepts to the public. And so it's very useful to me. And in fact, most recently, Rusty, I taught a course at UCLA Law School on impeachment. So perfect timing to teach such a course. And I really enjoyed that opportunity, which took place at the very beginning of this year. Now, it's definitely an advantage to have that law background that you have and how lucky of those UCLA students to have someone like you teaching that class. And John, I want to ask you about, you mentioned your book, Great Dads. And you're out of everything that you do. You're also an author. I mean, it's amazing what you do, John. Why did you write this book, Great Dads? Well, as you see from the title, it says, as seen in Reader's Digest. And so I, in the late 1990s, had a friend that was an editor at Reader's Digest. And he asked me if I was interested in writing an article for Reader's Digest for their Father's Day issue on that subject, Great Dads, finding some interesting men and women talking about lessons they learned from their fathers. And I did that. And another friend of mine that was a writer for the New York Times, happened to see that. And he said to me, you know, that would make a great book, actually. And he said, let me give you a connection with my literary agent. And so that's what my friend did. And the literary agent in turn pitched the IVF to a number of publishers. And we got a book deal, which was very fortunate. And then I had this great opportunity to interview Rusty, so many interesting people about lessons they learned from their fathers. People from politics like George W. Bush and Al Gore and John McCain and Kathleen Kennedy, Townsend about her father, Robert Kennedy. People from sports like Kobe Bryant and Mike Ditka and John McIngrow, Chrisie Ever, and Phil Mickelson. People from business like Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos. And people from the entertainment world like Jay Leno. And so this was a really awesome opportunity to interview some interesting people about lessons they learned from their fathers and lessons that in some cases they're imparting upon their own children. And it's interesting. I look at that book every once in a while. It's published, but Dr. Anthony Fauci is also another interesting person that I interviewed for the book, Great Dead. And I'll tell you an interesting story, Rusty. A few years back, I saw Dr. Fauci in the green room when he and I were going to be doing separate segments on MSNBC. And we got talking. And of course, you remember when I interviewed him for the book. And my father died a few years ago. And I read the story that he wrote about my father as the eulogy at his funeral. And I was very touched by that and obviously made me feel very good. And he obviously felt that what he conveyed to me in our interview is something that he wanted to convey to others at his father's funeral. So that's a nice connection that I have with one of the foremost experts in infectious diseases in the entire world. Well, what an honor. I mean, your book is very fascinating. I love your book, John. And, you know, I know how hard it is to write books. And, you know, I'm glad you like my book, you know, Beyond the Lines. And I got to get you my second book, Beyond the Game now. And I want to ask you, John, in my book, I talk a lot about building relationships. And, you know, through your career, you've had to build tons of relationships. What's the key to building great relationships? I think the key really, no matter what you're talking about in business or in life, is to be yourself and be honest. And I think that goes a long way towards building friendships with people that you can do business with or people that you hope to make your friends. And that's always served me well. I consider you a very good friend, Rusty. And you share that same quality that so many of my other friends share is just, you know, honesty, the real deal. And that's what I look for in friends. And I think that goes a long way for anybody, no matter where you are in this country or any country of that matter in terms of succeeding. Oh, thank you. I feel the same way towards you, John. And John, I want to ask you about success. How do you define success? Oh, I don't know. There's so many different ways to define success. I think that an important, and I'm a professor as well. I think, you know, that what we just talked about UCLA Law School. And I teach a class of every fall semester at Georgetown. And if I can impart some lessons to the next generation, no matter what it is that they pursue, whether it's law students pursuing the law or young undergraduate students at Georgetown that may pursue journalism or for that matter, graduate school. If I can impart something that they can take in the next step in their life, that to me is achieving success. And it always makes me feel really good and rusty when I see a former student, an anchor that is a former student of CNN or a former student that I had at Georgetown doing exceptionally well in whatever field that they are. And I hear about that. And not that I'm responsible for their success, but it just makes me feel good that, you know, I have a small part in terms of their achieving that road to success. And so that is just one way that I would define that must be. I love hearing that, John. And I want to know, John, who are some people that inspire you? Well, I only have one picture in my office, if you're in my home office right now, of a journalist. And that's Walter Cronkite. Walter, I have a picture of me and Walter Cronkite. And, you know, he is someone that I think everybody should look up to if you're in the field of journalism. He's certainly someone I looked up to. And he just embodied everything that I think a journalist should strive for, which is telling it like it is, which is the catchphrase that he often is associated with, and being honest with his viewers. And to me, that's what I want to do every day, is tell it like it is, if you've done it with my Fox audience and others that may be watching or listening. And to me, that is a role model in terms of the field that I pursue. Well, I think you are the modern day Walter Cronkite, John. In my mind, that's for sure. And, John, I want to ask you, what's the best advice you've ever received in your life? Oh, gosh, I don't know. I've had some mentors, someone who made news over the course of the past half a year or so as a mentor of mine. It's Jonathan Turley, who is a law professor at George Washington Law School. And you may have seen him during the impeachment trial. He was one of the experts that testified. He is someone that I have always admired. And he was a professor of buying law school. And to me, I always read the columns that he writes because he's just so insightful about so many different things. So in the field of law, he is definitely a mentor of mine. But I've had mentors of all different types. There's a mentor who is a Republican lawyer named Bobby Birchfield, who I reach out to. Another mentor who is opposite of the political spectrum named L.D. Atchison, the grand voter of Dean Atchison, who used to serve as the Secretary of State for the United States. So to me, I look up to people regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. And I find things that I can take from them that I can perhaps use in what I do on a regular basis in a way that I live my life. And in addition to all that, you know, my wife, she is just so remarkable, you know, in terms of everything that she does, her work, her work ethic. And I'm always amazed by the way that she goes about doing all the things that she does on a regular basis. John, you and your wife Caroline, you guys make a great team. And I'm so proud that I got to meet her, you know, last year. And John, I love hearing your insights and really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. And just know that I want more John Deckers in the world. That's the nicest thing I've heard in quite some time. That's really nice to be rusty. I always appreciate it. I appreciate your friendship too. And I'm so glad I could finally, in large part because of this coronavirus pandemic and the fact that I'm working from home, I could finally be on your show. So what a silver lining that is in terms of working at home and being able to be on your show Rusty. Yeah, it's a real great honor. Well, thank you, John. And I'll talk to you soon. Okay. I look forward to it. Thanks a lot, Rusty. Aloha. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that John and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.