Being tasked with the job of explaining every move, or tweet, Donald Trump makes seems like the worst game of whack-a-mole in history. It’s a thankless process that has quickly eroded any trust the public had in White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer or his deputy Sarah Huckabee-Sanders. It’s been proven time and time again that the words coming out of their mouths could be proven as half-truths, inaccuracies, or flat-out falsehoods a mere few hours later. Or worse, contradicted by Trump himself. The result has been increasingly tense and combative press briefings that have become must-see TV and a major issue moving forward for a White House administration that can’t seem to get on the same page.
As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
…Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
Trump himself recently tweeted that the job of standing in from of the press on his behalf on a daily basis is an impossible task, and he’s now threatening to cancel daily press briefings altogether because of it. In the meantime, reports indicate Trump may be looking to hire one of his supporters over at his favorite cable news channel to help shovel his daily manure. According to The New York Times, Fox News’ Kimberly Guilfoyle, currently one of the regular hosts of ‘The Five,’ is back in the mix of being considered for a role in the White House communications division, possibly even as new Press Secretary if Sean Spicer is fired. Guilfoyle was previously considered for the role that eventually went to Spicer, but with Trump unhappy with the messaging coming out of the president’s rocky first fourth months, she’s reportedly back in the mix.
Trump and his staff have publicly said Spicer isn’t on the verge of being fired, but reports have consistently leaked out of the White House of his displeasure with the job Spicer and Huckabee-Sanders have done with defending him. Trump has privately mentioned Guilfoyle as a replacement as he attempts to fix his communications issues, The New York Times reports:
“while Mr. Trump has raised the Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle to allies as a possible press secretary, he has spent several hours with Mr. Spicer this week, praising his television ‘ratings’ during the briefings.”
Spicer isn’t the only name on the chopping block. The Times report also makes mention of Trump being “increasingly dissatisfied” with the jobs of chief of staff Reince Priebus and communications director Michael Dubke, both whom he reportedly feels have done a sub-par job of harnessing the overall direction and messaging Trump was looking for during his first four months in office.
It appears no one is safe from a Trump pink slip, which in the past has been sort of business strategy he’s used as means of creating competition in the workplace. This time, though, it just seems like he’s pissed off nobody can properly whack the moles that are coming out of his mouth.
(Via Mediaite and The New York Times)