Sean Spicer is getting demoted, as flailing Donald Trump seeks a scapegoat
Sean Spicer was technically demoted when he lost the most senior of his two titles, White House Communications Director, and only got to keep his lesser title of White House Press Secretary – but it went largely under the radar because his external role didn’t fundamentally change. Now, however, he’s being demoted in a way that will leave him without an apparent job function.
That’s the latest word as Donald Trump continues to try to figure out whom to blame and scapegoat for his exploding scandals and failing administration. Sean Spicer will soon no longer be doing daily press briefings, according to a report from Politico (link). That’s stunning, in the sense that the Press Secretary’s primary job function is to brief the press. But it’s also not surprising, considering that whatever other things Spicer may be good at in his career or in his life, he’s been consistently terrible at briefing the press. So what now?
The story for now is that Sean Spicer will apparently still do some briefings from time to time, while his deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders will handle some briefings, and the overall number of briefings will be reduced. If this plan holds, it will make Donald Trump’s White House the first of the modern era not to bother doing daily press briefings. That might be fitting, considering that there’s no right way to answer reporters’ questions when your boss is as erratic and dishonest as Donald Trump. It’s also odd considering how many people’s names have been rumored to take his place, with the job now apparently falling to no one. But what is Spicer going to do instead, now that he won’t be the daily briefer?
That’s not been made clear to anyone one the outside. It sounds like Trump is hesitant to get rid of Spicer entirely, because he likes to keep people around who are personally loyal to him, whether they’re any good at their job or not. So Spicer could end up with a Kellyanne Conway-like role, where there don’t appear to be any particular job duties, other than to hang out in the White House and occasionally get called out of the bullpen in the instances where someone has to go on TV and be a backstop for Trump’s lies. Is this Trump’s idea of a long promised shakeup? And does anyone in his White House actually do anything anymore?
