Trump’s press secretary: An impossible job

It’s not easy being White House press secretary and communications director.

The job is a classic example of Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters….”

A successful press secretary would obey his boss and at the same time win the respect and trust of the White House press corps, a group that sets considerable score by the accuracy of what’s told to them. That’s a load, especially when the boss says one thing today and the opposite tomorrow.

That’s where Sean Spicer finds himself.

Spicer’s career has always been as a Republican spokesperson, for individual members of Congress and for GOP organizations.

After six years as communications director at the Republican National Committee, where he added the job of chief strategist for the past two years as well, Spicer was named the president’s press secretary. Two days later he was also given the title of White House communications director.

His challenges began immediately.

Trump — to my knowledge the thinnest-skinned president ever — resented media reports that former President Obama’s inaugurations drew larger crowds than his. So he gave Spicer his marching orders: go before the press corps and denounce those reports.

Aerial photographs prove that Obama’s crowds dwarfed Trump’s, especially the Obama turnout in 2009.

Washington Metro (subway) records for the 2009, 2013 and 2017 events confirmed the fact.

That’s not surprising.

Obama in 2008 received nearly four million more popular votes than Trump (Trump slightly beat Obama’s 2012 popular vote total). Obama in 2008 had nearly 60 more electoral votes than Trump, and 26 more electoral votes in 2012.

What’s more, the areas closest to Washington in Virginia and Maryland are heavily Democratic. Trump’s greatest support came from voters living much farther away. Red-state voters had a tougher time getting to the Mall for the ceremony.

And the weather was threatening at Trump’s inauguration — in fact, it started to rain as he began his address.   

Yet hundreds of thousands of folks turned out for Trump’s ceremony. Crowd size should not have been a cause for shame for the new president.

And what did it matter anyway?

But Trump, as always, had to come in first.

So he sent Spicer to the press gallery microphone to denounce the “lying media” once again.

A couple days later, Spicer tried to walk it back. He said that what he had meant was that the combined size of Trump’s audience at the ceremony and through electronic coverage — TV, computers and hand-held devices — was the largest ever.

There’s no way to know that, of course, but it was the only lifesaver the drowning press secretary could grab, so he snared it.

A look at the original transcript of Spicer’s maiden session with the reporters shows that’s not what he said. But what’s a guy gonna do?

Remember Baghdad Bob?

His real name was Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf. He gave daily broadcast briefings in the spring of 2003 on the progress of the Iraq War.

At the same time that he was saying Americans were fleeing and dying by the thousands and Iraqi troops were attacking the Western infidel invaders from all sides, American tanks were breaking through the walls of Baghdad.

He became the laughing stock of the Western world for his fake news and blatant disinformation reports.

A growing number of commentators have now nicknamed Sean Spicer “Baghdad Bob.”

The poor guy has my sympathy.

He doesn’t have a media background — he’s been in public relations instead. His job is to spin for his employer — in this case, the president of the United States.

But he’s a smart man, and he knows what will and what will not fly. It will be worth watching to see how he squeezes himself between the real world and the World of Trump.

I truly wish him the best.

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