There were several shake ups in White House staffing in the past few days that are worth talking about. Mostly notably, Press Secretary Sean Spicer stepped down on Friday, exactly six months after taking the role. We’re not going to make any jokes here (mostly because they’ve all already been made), and we wish Spicey and his mini fridge nothing but the best.
Word on the street is that Spicer decided to resign because Trump appointed Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director. (Don’t worry, all those jokes have already been made, too.) Scaramucci was a spokesman for the Trump campaign in the 2016 election, but his public views on climate change have been out of step with most of the administration. In 2016, Scaramucci tweeted that climate denial is “disheartening” and even implored followers to not “stand on the wrong side of history” when it comes to climate change.
The day after he accepted the comms director role, Scaramucci said that he’d be deleting old tweets to reflect his “evolved” views and the fact that he now serves Trump’s agenda.
Both of the aforementioned climate tweets have already been deleted. Actions speak louder than tweets, but if Scaramucci is serving Trump’s agenda, his calls for climate action are as history as Spicer.
In other appointment news, Axios reports that Trump will tap coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as EPA deputy administrator. Wheeler served as a top aide for Senator James “Snowball” Inhofe and has been a lobbyist for coal giant Murray Energy since 2009. According to the Washington Post, three other EPA appointments (for the Office of Air and Radiation, EPA general counsel and the Office of Water) may follow quickly, and are likely to rankle environmentalists.
Over at State, E&E News reports that the department’s top science advisor resigned last week “amid concerns about the science priorities of President Trump and reorganization under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.” Though advocates call the position “critical,” there is concern that Tillerson’s “reorganization” may eliminate this position altogether. Considering recent allegations of the disregard with which the Trump administration treats its scientists, this is concerning, but unsurprising. However, some reports from the White House show that Tillerson himself might be on the way out at State.
We’re not sure where Tillerson would go, but maybe he’d join good old Sean. Given this administration’s increasingly scary attitude towards truth and facts, looks like Spice World may actually be a good place to be.