Sean Spicer is out looking for the person who’ll take over the job of White House press secretary, but it’s not at all humiliating to cap months of abuse from your boss and mockery from observers by helping to find your own successor. Believe him!
“I’m right here!” Mr. Spicer said gamely on Tuesday, sporting a tight smile in a self-deprecating gesture that contrasted with some of his more bellicose performances in the past.
The job of White House press secretary is supposed to be the crowning achievement of a successful career, but under Donald Trump, and with Spicer in the spotlight, it’s become such a liability that the White House won't even allow video or audio evidence of press briefings. That job, and the communications director job that recently opened up, have also become yet another part of the ongoing power struggle among Trump’s top advisers:
Several Trump aides, including Mr. Kushner, Mr. Spicer, Stephen K. Bannon and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, have made their own phone calls searching for potential job candidates, sometimes not telling others in the building what they’re doing. Some believe that the communications director needs his or her own lane; others believe that the person should report to Mr. Spicer, for whom a new role as a deputy chief of staff has been discussed. Others said there might not be any kind of change.
But so far, there has been no real signoff from the only person whose vote matters: the president.
There’s a recipe for continuing chaos for you. But there are lots of reasons Trump wouldn’t put an end to that chaos by making a decision. First, of course, he enjoys having his underlings at each other’s throats. Second, Trump sees the press as an enemy, so it’s not a priority to have a person tasked with providing them useful information. Third, having someone who is not Donald Trump go out and be in the spotlight every day must be intolerable for someone with Trump’s need for attention—hence some of the gratuitous humiliations he’s piled onto Spicer.
Trump has Twitter and he has a direct line to the right-wing media, so why would he want someone who is not him talking to reporters who might ask difficult questions? The idea that, as president, Trump is not speaking solely for himself is offensive to him, so he won’t be motivated in this by a sense of responsibility to the office or to the nation. Spicer’s humiliation won’t be ending anytime soon.