There’s at least one Adam Schiff that Donald Trump doesn’t despise — and it’s not the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Adam Schiff, a Livingston, New Jersey, father of two, shares his namesake with the most famous politician of the moment — aside from the president.
“Everywhere I go, I get it all the time,” said Schiff, 43. “There’s no way I can avoid it — there’s definitely been an impact.”
But the veteran PR boss hasn’t captured the ire of the president in the same way that Adam Schiff has. New Jersey’s Adam Schiff actually worked with a pre-political Trump on the Golf Channel’s short-lived “Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf” about a decade ago.
“It was always a professional, positive relationship,” said Schiff, founder and CEO of CultureSpeed Communications. Trump even asked Schiff to work on another family project, though Schiff never took him up on it, and they don’t stay in touch.
Schiff isn’t too miffed about sharing his name though. Why not? “I love my name,” he says.
Though he’s never been denied a restaurant reservation or had a customer service agent hang up on him, Schiff says there’s been a flurry of irate messages flooding his social media. He also was blocked by Twitter as the California Democrat’s star began to rise.
“I couldn’t activate my account any longer.”
“There was definitely nasty stuff sent my way,” he said, adding that there’s been an uptick the last few months as the impeachment proceedings have fired up. “Ironically, it’s not even getting to him. I laugh it off.”
He tends not to engage too much with the Schiff haters.
“Whatever side of the aisle you’re on, whoever works in government that way, fighting for the better of the country, that’s not a bad person to have as a namesake,” he said.
But he will take a stance on one matter: “I have a better head of hair.”
While the two Schiffs have never met, Schiff believes that he’s been on the congressman’s radar. “He may know me from over the years there were emails that were intended for me that he got and vice versa.”
And there are at least two people who really get a kick out of the namesake coincidence.
“My sons think it’s cool, especially when they see my name on the chyron all the time with a quote. They think it’s funny,” Schiff said.
Schiff also doesn’t expect the hoopla to slow down.
“Time will tell,” he says. “He has a bright future ahead of him. This could be the beginning of fun and interesting experiences I have sharing his name. You never know.”
