It’s Valentine’s Day when love is celebrated but where does one find love?

Often times our place of work proves a harbinger for cupid’s arrow, after all, we spend more time with our work colleagues than family and anybody else come to think of it. Feelings develop, attraction takes place and before you know it, you’ve fallen into the tender trap.

This is a cautionary tale, one where love became too intense, it’s heat eviscerating a promising career forcing a search for a new job and a reset.

TJ Ducklo and Alexi McCammond are two young professionals on the up escalator of careers in journalism and communications. Alexi McCammond is making a name as a good reporter on American news website Axios while TJ Ducklo having been a communication director for NBC News, was appointed by President Biden to serve as Deputy White House Press Secretary.

They fell in love while  McCammond was covering the Biden campaign during the Presidential race, blurring the lines between work life and love life  – no biggie, it happens.

They tried to keep it under wraps but these things have a way of getting out. The press and the world of politics in Washington are inextricably linked and the word gets out.

McCammond took the high ground no doubt ensuring she headed-off incoming brick-bats with the shield of disclosure.

“When my personal life had the potential to interfere with my work, I didn’t  think twice about sharing my happiness in November with Axios that I’d found someone in TJ who shows up for me in a way I’d only hoped for.”

Aaaaawwww! How sweet is that?

Nevertheless, Axios saw the potential for this to get ugly perhaps even being seized upon by the Trump team for political capital purposes and reassigned foxy Alexi to cover Kamala Harris.

At the time there was no doubt a sigh of collective relief.

Alexi and TJ’s romance is by now in full bloom – a love story in the time of COVID. TJ insists that their love life and work-life are clearly delineated. Some take him at his word – others can’t see how that can be. There might be trouble ahead.

After some gnashing of teeth and Santa returning to the North Pole, Biden is declared the winner and prepares for his inauguration.

The inauguration is a muted affair and on his first day as President “Uncle Joe” issues an ominous warning to his staff, “I am not joking when I say this: If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts.”

A harmonious working White House is made a priority right from the get-go and those who can’t get with the program will be shown the door.

This pronouncement probably didn’t have Biden’s staff quaking in their boots, many including Ducklo saw this as righteous words from an amenable old man looking to do good.

After the tempest that was the prior administration, Biden’s words should be heeded.

With a new President in the White House and TJ being assigned a top job as Deputy Press Secretary, attention turns to his affair with the Axios reporter.

Politico puts Tara Palmeri on the story and she goes to work – because that’s what she does. She researches, talks with people, puts the elements together and then seeks comment from the subjects of the story.

She gets in touch with Ducklo, who is not unknown to her. She’s the consummate professional asking him questions everybody wants answers to. For her efforts, Ducklo becomes indignant, then vicious, then threatening.

He tells Palmeri that if she continues her probe, he will “destroy” her. Now, this is disgusting and dreadful on the part of Ducklo. Is this the kind of man MacCammond wants to be associated with? One that menacingly threatens a fellow journalist going about her profession?

It gets worse.

It turns out that his level of malevolence ratchets up and his ugliness is laid bare. This guy may come over all ‘sweet and cuddly’, but the beast is there. As I always say- ladies never trust guys who come across too nice and saccharine, there’s always a viper there.

It transpires that he goes on to tell Palmeri that the only reason that she is doing a story on his romance is because she is “jealous” of his newfound love with McCammond.

Not content to leave it there, he becomes even more vituperous and vengeful telling Palmeri crudely that she is jealous because a man from her past “wanted to f… McCammond and not you!”

For all his bravado, Ducklo becomes a lame duck.

His boss, Jen Psaki no doubt has a soft spot for him and didn’t come down with the hammer choosing to suspend him for a week without pay.

All that did was ignite the ire of journalists covering Capitol Hill with many saying that the Biden administration, just days in, is reversing itself and condoning bad behaviour.

Something had to give.

Now TJ may well argue that he was protecting his girlfriend from unwanted scrutiny and that he lost his cool. He did more than that, he was a vicious simp looking to damage Palmeri and make her feel bad in the worst way. Is this the kind of man McCammond wants? How long before he turns on you and spits his venom?

With Valentine’s Day dawning, the White House decided to give lame-duck Ducklo the chop, thus ending his government communications career and placing a Scarlett letter over his neck.

“We accepted the resignation of TJ Ducklo after a discussion. This conversation occurred with the support of the White House Chief of Staff. We are committed to striving  every day to meet the standard set by the President in treating others with dignity and respect, with civility and with a value for others through our words and our actions,” said the White House  through an issued statement

In the words of Connie Francis, “ Who’s Sorry Now”.

He embarked on this relationship knowing they both would come under scrutiny. Given his profession, he was naïve to think that he would not be placed under the spotlight.  Chumps always end up suffering and paying the price. All he had to do was acknowledge his new status, sing Alexi’s praises and tell all who would listen, that the romance feels good. He might have gotten much support from the press fraternity instead of the enmity and revulsion now confronting him.

After his hubris, he was forced to humble himself and tell the world what a horrible man he is, one who looks to wound women with his spiteful tongue.
 
“I am devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed my White House colleagues and President Biden and after a discussion with White House communications leadership, I resigned my position and will not be returning from administrative leave.

“No words can express my regret, my embarrassment and my disgust for my behaviour. I used language that no woman should ever have to hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was trying to do her job.”

Now disgraced and jobless how long will the attractive Alexi MacCammond stay with the hapless TJ who recently recovered from lung cancer? There’s a certain woman who takes a certain flight, just ask my brother from another mother, Richard Cooper.

Trump’s former communications director Hope Hicks had a romance with White House colleague Rob Porter, who it was said beat his former wives

On Porter being fired, Hicks stayed with him for a few months before his endearing qualities did not prove enough to bind him to her as her career continued its ascendancy

Finding himself in an awful situation on Valentine’s Day, Alexi may well feel remorse for her paramour and feels he needs her – for now. He’ll be handing out flowers and chocolates while she’ll be doling out sympathy and compassion.

Tonight, they will console each other during the cold, wintery, February night. Tomorrow, Alexi will go off to work, as her promising career garners more laurels while TJ will have to warm himself by the fire as he begins his search for a new job, hoping that a prospective employer can overlook his contemptibility.

Happy Valentine’s Day.