So Long Sarah!
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving the White House. She didn’t have the opportunity to let us all know herself, even though she was the Press Secretary to the President. Of course it’s the Trump Administration, and the announcement was made through the primary form of White House communication, a tweet from the President.
“After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas. She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”
You have to wonder if she knew she was leaving. Many, many White House appointees found out for the first time they were leaving on Twitter. Ask former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who found out on the commode, or Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who read it on Twitter as the motorcade left him behind. All probably had it better than Jim Comey, he read about being fired looking at a TV in the back of the room, while delivering a speech.
She became the “voice” of the President, after the departure of Spicer (“the biggest inauguration ever”) and the unceremonious removal of Scaramucci (the “Mooch”.) She evolved into a bitter contestant in the “message” war of the press room, waging battle against CNN’s Jim Acosta and Playboy’s Brian Karum, as well as the other reporters asking tough questions. At the beginning it felt like she knew that she was “telling tales,” but towards the end of her White House press briefings, the message was hard; ignoring the substance of almost every question asked, and stuck to the script.
It was no surprise that the White House briefings ended. The President’s message was so difficult to project, that only Trump himself could do it. So White House communication is now in the “scrums” at the “photo ops,” and on the lawn walking to the helicopter. Trump himself is the messenger, and poor Sarah seemed redundant, echoing whatever it is he happened to say that morning.
While Sean Spicer did a press conference from the bushes, Sarah got used to meetings on the White House walk. The Press Room literally has dust on the chairs and podium; it might be better to make it back into the swimming pool it was.
Sarah spent the past two years telling us there was no collusion, no cooperation between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Wednesday night the President all but admitted to “collusion,” and then used the old high school office excuse: everyone does it. It’s not a surprise that Sarah resigned today; tough to show your face in public when the boss just showed up your two years of lies. She can’t be blamed for going back to Arkansas.
It’s home, and there is fertile political ground for a potential candidate, especially one with a popular former Governor as a father. But it’s difficult to see how Sarah’s service in the Trump campaign and administration will be of use in preparing her for governing. They didn’t seem to do a very good job of that.
However, Trump support is currently vital, and she’s got it. He won the state by 60% in 2016, and there doesn’t seem to be many cracks in his support there yet. Future events will show whether Trump maintains his deadlock on the base Republican electorate.
Who’s next in the Press Secretary role? Traditionally, a “flak jacket” hangs in the White House Press Secretary office, filled with the messages of predecessors giving advice on how to get the job done. But with the departure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the last traditional Press Secretary is gone, at least for this administration.
Whoever has the job next will be a lot more like that guy who worked at the end of the circus parade, the one with the shovel, picking up the leavings of the elephants. They will have the role of cleaning up Trump’s mess, a mess that seems to be growing bigger and deeper. They don’t need a jacket; they need a bucket, and maybe some big rubber boots.
