SNL won't have Spicy to kick around anymore, but the media couldn't resist reporting on one ignominious act in which Sean pilfered a mini fridge from his junior staffers in the early evening hours his first month in office. I wonder if they will snatch their fridge back now that he's gone, but more likely they all pitched in for a new one from Walmart months ago.
It was a thankless job from the start as Spicer was forced to invent numbers surrounding the President's inauguration and it only got worse after that. A press secretary's job is to cover for his boss but time again he had to sink to lower levels in doing so.
Sean's biggest problem was trying to explain Trump. He would often go to great lengths to rationalize the president's tweets, making himself the brunt of jokes. SNL had a field day with him, leading many to speculate how long Trump would keep Spicer, or "Melissa" as he affectionately came to be known. It seems that as long as Sean was willing to take the abuse, he had the job because it deflected attention away from the Hairpiece in Chief.
However, everyone has his limits, and for Sean that came with the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, a job in which he had been serving ever since Trump had chosen to have Sarah Huckabee lead the press briefings. It was clear that Trump no longer had any place for Spicer and so Sean did the honorable thing -- resign.
Anyone hoping for a tell-all book, saw that quickly dashed when Spicy popped up on Hannity. It's looking a lot like the time Trump fired Corey Lewandowski, who had been his campaign manager, only for Corey to serve as a very useful tool on the news media circuit. Lewandowski even landed a gig at CNN, making him a permanent fixture throughout the remainder of the campaign.
Spicer should do better in this role as he can engage more freely in "round table discussions," like we see on CNN. He can say what he will, even question his former boss from time to time so as not to look like a lapdog. I'm sure he will soon have a permanent position at Fox or CNN.
As for the new communications director, Scaramucci is certainly a much smoother talker, and has already shown his ability to disarm the press. Makes you wonder why Trump didn't pick him from the get-go, but then I suppose he still wasn't sure how loyal Tony would be to him. My question is what does a highly successful investment banker gain by serving Trump in this capacity?
Trump has already laden his administration with Goldman Sachs alums, making his attacks of Hillary on the campaign trail appear very hypocritical. This was the charge leveled at Bernie Sanders when he first brought up her speaking fees on the campaign trail, claiming it represented a conflict of interests.
Trump co-opted Bernie's language during the general election but not his tenacity when serving as President. Maybe this is why Spicer thought Scaramucci was such a bad choice, as Trump is supposed to be a Main St. President. If nothing else, the President should at least be able to effectively communicate that, but how can he if he has someone so close to Wall St. heading up his communications department?
Not that it will probably matter with his electorate. As low as Trump has slipped in the polls, he still hovers around 40 per cent, which means he continues to have the full support of the conservative faithful.
Sean is just the latest sacrificial lamb of the Trump administration, which periodically has to make an offering to give the impression of propriety in the White House. Why else leak such a tawdry story of Sean running off with a mini fridge from the junior staffers' press room? We can't have petty thieves in the White House. Better to have experienced crooks like Scaramucci.
Anthony Scaramucci -
ReplyDeleteYeah I know that you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but this character looks about as shady as can be.
Dump said he was going to 'drain the swamp' of Wall Street insiders during his regime. Turns out that he has employed more than his share of insider no goods.