Obviously, Sean Spicer is terrible at his job.
But in fairness to Sean, his job is impossible.
By his own admission, Trump makes it difficult for his surrogates to stay on message by contradicting not only his own communications team, but also himself.
Throw in the fact that everything he says is a lie, and you’ve got yourself a situation where building trust and credibility with the press corps is a lost cause.
Well, after months of speculation, it looks like Spicer might finally be replaced. Here’s Bloomberg:
The White House is weighing whether to move Press Secretary Sean Spicer into a more senior role focused on strategy and bring in a new spokesman for the president, two people familiar with the discussions said.
The president has both praised and castigated Spicer for his performances at the briefing room podium but has never told him he was in danger of being fired.
“We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation,” deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who herself has been rumored as a replacement for Spicer, said in a statement. “As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office.”
Bloomberg goes on to note that recently, “a number of Spicer’s question-and-answer sessions with reporters have been conducted off-camera, including on Monday.”
That pushed CNN’s Jim Acosta over the edge this afternoon after Spicer refused to acknowledge him, in favor of a Russian reporter. Here’s Acosta’s angry response:
At off camera no audio briefing, Spicer took a question from a Russian reporter but not from CNN. #pravda
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
There is a suppression of information going on at this WH that would not be tolerated at a city council mtg or press conf with a state gov.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
Call me old fashioned but I think the White House of the United States of America should have the backbone to answer questions on camera.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
Make no mistake about what we are all witnessing. This is a WH that is stonewalling the news media. Hiding behind no camera/no audio gaggles
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
Needless to say, this isn’t doing much to dispel the notion that this administration is engaged in deliberate obfuscation…
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