To repeat a question I asked on Saturday, how is it that Spicer hasn’t resigned yet? How much more public humiliation is he willing to endure to cling to this terrible, terrible job?
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former first lady of San Francisco and current Fox News host, is in conversations with the Trump administration about becoming White House press secretary, she said in an exclusive interview with the Bay Area News Group Monday night.
Guilfoyle said the idea of her taking the job or another press role in the White House has been “raised by a number of people” in the Trump administration, although she declined to go into specifics…
“Sean Spicer is a very nice man and a patriot; he’s dedicated himself to this public service,” she said. “Very tough position he’s in — I wish him the best, and I know he puts a lot of effort into it.”
Her theory of why she’d be better in the job is that she’s known Trump for years whereas Spicer hasn’t, and “If you want to be successful and do communications with President Trump, you have to be someone who he actually wants to spend a little bit of time with.” Not only is she crowing that she might be about to take this guy’s job, she’s broadcasting that Trump doesn’t much like him.
Here’s the sort of joyous workplace environment Spicer is battling to remain a part of. This is the Times reporting on damage control at the White House last night after WaPo dropped its bombshell about Trump sharing classified info with the Russians:
Before The Post’s article was published, its impending publication set off a mild panic among White House staff members, with the press secretary, Sean Spicer; the deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and the communications director, Mike Dubke, summoned to the Oval Office in the middle of the afternoon.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of his advisers, was not in the meeting. But internally, Mr. Kushner criticized Mr. Spicer, who has been the target of his ire over bad publicity for the president since Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, last week.
Kushner’s criticizing Spicer for the WaPo story? Why? What reason could there be except that Spicer is now the designated whipping boy for every frustrated Trump advisor?
The standard reply when I ask why Spicer doesn’t save the last shred of his dignity by resigning is that it’s still a prestige job that he holds, however thankless. Right, but there’s no doubt at all that he’s not going to last much longer as press secretary. If they’re already interviewing replacements, it’s a matter of months or weeks, if not days. Why give Trump the satisfaction of booting him instead of exacting a little revenge for all the scapegoating he’s been subject to by becoming the first White House staffer to quit in exasperation? Stand up for yourself, Spicey!
Exit question: Why the hell would Trump, a president consumed with embarrassing leaks, want someone as his new press secretary who’s already blabbing about internal White House operations? It’s extremely poor form to boast that someone else’s employer has approached you to replace that someone. It’s humiliating to Spicer and it’s a sign that Guilfoyle lacks the tact needed for a major role, especially one in … communications. If I were Trump, the fact that she’s talking to reporters about this would be reason enough not to hire her.
Update: Fair point.
I can think of nothing smarter than telling your press secretary he's a lame duck in the middle of a crisis stacked on a crisis https://t.co/f1Rk7NR3yE
— kilgore trout, ted’s travel agent (@KT_So_It_Goes) May 16, 2017
What incentive does Spicer have not to leak, knowing that he’s on the chopping block?
Update: Fox News and Guifoyle have issued the requisite denials.
From a FOX News spokesperson:
“Kimberly is a valued member of the FOX News primetime lineup, and is under a long-term contract with the network.”From Kimberly Guilfoyle:
Through a spokesperson, Kimberly Guilfoyle said, “As I stated in the interview, I really love what I do and my job co-hosting The Five is tough to beat.”
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