The toughest job in the Swamp, press secretary for POTUS, has claimed another casualty, Sean Spicer. After a six-month stint spinning President Donald Trump’s message, an ever-changing message, Spicer has turned in his White House credentials and hightailed it for parts unknown.
For Swamp dwellers, this is no surprise. From the very first presser, where the inaugural attendance numbers were analyzed, scrutinized, dissected and regurgitated by everyone from the elite media to Mrs. Rita, the erstwhile palm reader in Tempe, Arizona, there wasn’t a soul who didn’t see the evisceration of the communications man looming.
Sean Spicer is a tough guy, not prone to crying wolf, or complaining about hurt feelings. But everyone reaches a boiling point, and it appears that President Trump had turned up the heat enough for Spicer to see red as an announcement was made anointing Anthony Scaramucci the new communications director; a position originally thought to be under Spicer. But Scaramucci only wanted a direct line to the Oval Office, and hence, the hefty gorilla was invited into the meeting room, prompting Spicer to resign. Maybe, he just didn’t want to work around Scaramucci, or perhaps he saw an out and latched onto it, freeing himself from the 24/7 drudgery of a thankless job. We may never know.
Being the press secretary to POTUS invites controversy. As the front line for your president, you take the barrage of insults, personal attacks, and downright meanness emanating from the White House Press Corps and any pundit with a pulpit. Random people, who believe their own popularity on social media, have an opinion – whether they have a clue or not; and Saturday Night Live, they can’t stop trying to resuscitate a long forgotten decade of debauchery and glitter-bombs. It’s a tough position and many who have dared to take the job have not lasted long.
George Stephanopoulos was President Bill Clinton’s first press guy, and he lasted a whopping 138 days. The last Clinton guy, who stayed to turn off the lights, 112 days (at least Spicer lasted 182 days).
DeeDee Myers replaced Stephanopoulos and hit the skids when a few drunk driving arrests signaled her demise. In recent administrations, no one has survived much more than a two-year term before extricating themselvesto regain a percentage of lost sanity.
Now, Sarah Huckabee Sanders has assumed the hot seat, and mark my words; she won’t be holding pressers two years from now. The solution is not a new body at the podium in the Brady Room. And may God save anyone else in this administration that accepts the job. No, what’s needed to solve the communications problems in the Trump White House is an overhaul of the man who sits in the Oval Office, and that won’t happen during his tenure as our President.
We will wait and see how Scaramucci and Sanders approach the testy press corps, and what new, wonderful, and popular optics they will bring to the public.
Spicer will no doubt leave quietly and remain silent until Trump’s White House is no more; whenever that may be. Until that time, I imagine Spicer will hole up in a secluded place, decompress, all the while watching the television and laughing out loud at the White House pressers. I for one, hope he is sipping a cold beer, and penning an outrageous memoir that will top the best seller’s lists worldwide, titled 182 Days in Captivity.
