The Real Reason the ‘Presidents Club Hurricane Aid Video’ Didn’t Include Donald Trump

Last updated on: September 19, 2017 at 10:21 am by Marla Clendenin

The Real Reason the ‘Presidents Club Hurricane Aid Video’ Didn’t Include Donald Trump 2017-09-19T10:21:17-05:00 Marla Clendenin

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A very touching commercial aired during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The bipartisan PSAs for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma relief featured former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Noticeably, the current President, Donald Trump, was not included.

The father/daughter filmmaker team of Roy and Courtney Spence somehow managed to pull off this touching bi-partisan public service announcement in just 48 hours. People magazine reports:

Roy, a co-founder of the Austin-based advertising firm GSD&M, and his daughter Courtney, the founder and CEO of the creative film agency CSpence Group, had previously co-produced public service announcements with Clinton and the elder George Bush for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, and with Clinton and the younger George Bush for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

But on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend — after Harvey had ripped through Texas, killing dozens and leaving thousands injured and more than 1 million people displaced — Roy got a call from George H.W. Bush’s spokesman, Jim McGrath, saying all the living former presidents wanted to come together for “something historic.”

“He said the presidents wanted to help out 41 and 43 with their funding for the victims of Harvey,” Roy tells PEOPLE of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, who lives part of the year in Houston, and his son George W. Bush, the 43rd president, who lives in Dallas.

Roy immediately responded with a “yes” — and was then informed of two “little, slight catches.”

Firstly, the ad would have to be ready to air in less than a week as the NFL had donated prime time that Thursday night to debut the PSA during the league’s opening game. No problem, Roy said.

The second catch was that none of the presidents would be in the same location.

Roy overcame what probably was a logistical nightmare by calling his daughter… He admits he was in tears. He explained to her what was going on, and she immediately agreed to help. Courtney said, “It was an all-volunteer effort,” she says. “I’ve never seen people mobilize, I’ve never seen people say yes, I’ve never seen people donate their time like this before. People stopped what they were doing and got on planes … It was amazing.”

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