Phil Elwood

You enter a liminal space where truth and reality can be whatever you want. It's almost as if the world freezes. And if you're good at what you do in public relations, you can manipulate things, people, facts, the truth before the world starts back up again. It doesn't matter what the truth is, the facts get changed, the public takes up your narrative, and you watch as the world resumes turning.

You enter a liminal space where truth and reality can be whatever you want. It's almost as if the world freezes. And if you're good at what you do in public relations, you can manipulate things, people, facts, the truth before the world starts back up again. It doesn't matter what the truth is, the facts get changed, the public takes up your narrative, and you watch as the world resumes turning.

Thank you so much for having me on the program. I'm really excited to be here.

Thank you so much for having me on the program. I'm really excited to be here.

My client at the time was the royal family of Qatar, and they engaged the firm I was working for to help them secure their hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup. My job was not to promote the Qatari bid, My job was to go negative on our opposition to host the games. And that principally was the United States of America.

My client at the time was the royal family of Qatar, and they engaged the firm I was working for to help them secure their hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup. My job was not to promote the Qatari bid, My job was to go negative on our opposition to host the games. And that principally was the United States of America.

So we tried a number of different strategies and tactics, but it wasn't until the U.S. Congress passed a sense of the House resolution. Now, this is a resolution that means absolutely nothing. has no enforcement of law, they passed a sense of the House resolution saying they thought the United States should host the World Cup.

So we tried a number of different strategies and tactics, but it wasn't until the U.S. Congress passed a sense of the House resolution. Now, this is a resolution that means absolutely nothing. has no enforcement of law, they passed a sense of the House resolution saying they thought the United States should host the World Cup.

Well, this enraged my client who instructed my employer to instruct his man in Washington, me, to get a resolution introduced into the U.S. Congress opposing our own bid to host the games. seemingly an impossible task. Now, when my employer told me what he wanted, he said to me, Phil, I said it, you make it true. And then he hung up on me.

Well, this enraged my client who instructed my employer to instruct his man in Washington, me, to get a resolution introduced into the U.S. Congress opposing our own bid to host the games. seemingly an impossible task. Now, when my employer told me what he wanted, he said to me, Phil, I said it, you make it true. And then he hung up on me.

So what I did was I went out to a bar and I was sitting there having two or three vodka sodas. I was sitting outside and a group of school children walked by and they were all morbidly obese. And this gave me my idea. And on a cocktail napkin,

So what I did was I went out to a bar and I was sitting there having two or three vodka sodas. I was sitting outside and a group of school children walked by and they were all morbidly obese. And this gave me my idea. And on a cocktail napkin,

I wrote a resolution that said the United States government would not support bids for any international games, World Cup or Olympic until we fully funded physical education programs in public schools. I then took this napkin and met up with a lobbyist who I paid $10,000 to, I believe, who got a member of Congress from Detroit to introduce the resolution.

I wrote a resolution that said the United States government would not support bids for any international games, World Cup or Olympic until we fully funded physical education programs in public schools. I then took this napkin and met up with a lobbyist who I paid $10,000 to, I believe, who got a member of Congress from Detroit to introduce the resolution.

I then leaked the text of the resolution to a reporter from a publication called Politico, who published an article two days before the vote in Switzerland over who would host the games with the headline World Cup versus gym class. Now, the important part of this was that it showed that not only was there dissension in the U.S.

I then leaked the text of the resolution to a reporter from a publication called Politico, who published an article two days before the vote in Switzerland over who would host the games with the headline World Cup versus gym class. Now, the important part of this was that it showed that not only was there dissension in the U.S.

Congress, but dissension in the United States about who should host the games.

Congress, but dissension in the United States about who should host the games.

Exactly. It wasn't just Los Angeles. It was several other cities. Los Angeles was one of the bidding cities. So what they do is they play the games in a lot of different towns. And Los Angeles was one of the cities that was going to host it. But no, LA and the rest of the United States lost the bid. Qatar hosted the games in 2022. And it was pretty rough.

Exactly. It wasn't just Los Angeles. It was several other cities. Los Angeles was one of the bidding cities. So what they do is they play the games in a lot of different towns. And Los Angeles was one of the cities that was going to host it. But no, LA and the rest of the United States lost the bid. Qatar hosted the games in 2022. And it was pretty rough.