President Trump’s transition team is no doubt busy picking potential White House staff officials for the next administration, but he shouldn’t bother too much with figuring out his next press secretary. In fact, it’s best that he eliminate the position altogether.
White House press secretaries are supposed to field inquiries from the news media and keep reporters abreast of administrative affairs, but that’s not how people see the press secretary’s job anymore, thanks to our godawful, not-dead-yet Washington press corp. Most people now know the press secretary as the official who stands at a podium almost daily and answers a series of mindless questions from reporters who hope to be seen on TV with a daring facial expression.
To wit, the most insufferable part of Trump’s first term by far was the daily press briefing. It’s how dopes like CNN’s Jim Acosta and PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor became somewhat household names. What’s supposed to be an informative and fairly blasé event was used by these freaks to get famous by asking stupidly confrontational questions every single day, including questions to the effect of “Why do you disagree with the Statue of Liberty?”
In 2017, Acosta literally quoted the text on the statue before accusing then-White House adviser Stephen Miller of “trying to change what it means to be an immigrant” by expecting foreigners to speak English and contribute meaningfully to society.
In 2020, Alcindor literally asked then-U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams to respond to nobodies on social media who pretended to be offended when he advised minorities at higher risk of Covid to take greater caution. “You also said do it for your abuela, do it for big mama and pop pop,” Alcindor sassed. “There are some people online that are already offended by that language.”
The briefings with the actual press secretary, whether it was Sean Spicer or Kayleigh McEnany or Sarah Sanders were worse, endless back-and-forths about whatever mind-numbing manufactured controversy the media were preoccupied with.
It’s pointless. Other than as opportunities for these hysterical drama queens to get undeserved attention, on-camera briefings are less than useless. The briefings set those nerds up for cable news contracts and book deals and otherwise did nothing but undermine Trump’s attempts to govern and execute his agenda— you know, the thing his voters put him in office for.
That can’t happen again, and the best way to ensure it doesn’t is to simply eliminate on-camera press briefings. Trump has one more term, and he was granted it by desperate voters who believe he can fix this broken country. There’s no time to waste. Not a second can be squandered on feckless Washington reporters trying to get famous by way of some trifling fight with the White House on TV.
Unless it’s absolutely necessary to host a televised briefing, there’s no reason they can’t all be audio-only affairs; and even audio recordings aren’t needed on a regular basis. A White House official can host briefings on background to answer questions or offer guidance, but the media are going to do whatever it is they want to do either way (lie, deceive, and manipulate). If they want their questions on camera, the video publication (whether television or internet) can submit formal interview requests, and the White House can determine whether or not to accept.
Trump no longer needs the approval of the media, not that he ever really did. He can take office and spend not a single day talking to them if he wants. He can’t run for reelection, so outside of matters of utmost importance to the public, he shouldn’t bother with the media’s preferred daily opportunity for fame, nor should the rest of his administration. It won’t hurt the future prospects of J.D. Vance, Trump’s incoming vice president, who presumably will run for president in 2028. But a stalled agenda would.
Can the on-camera briefings. Trump doesn’t need them. Neither do the rest of us.
