Screenshot via CNN
CNN’s Audie Cornish backpedaled on Friday after weighing in on outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s employment prospects. From theories as to why she is leaving to the parlor game of guessing who will replace her, the news of her sudden exit has given plenty of speculative meat for the press to gnaw on.
On her daybreak show, Cornish and her panel dug into the matter, and it was clear that the hostess was trucking in preconceived notions about the position in the White House Press Room without thinking the matter through. It was clear she was operating on the assumption that serving President Trump is automatically negative, and then she was shown that the opposite is true.
Looking back on Karoline Leavitt’s tenure, Cornish gave her share of plaudits, but then had lapsed into criticism of one predecessor. “She didn’t become a national joke, like a Sean Spicer.” It seems clear Cornish was falling back on Spicer’s portrayal on Saturday Night Live, and brought up his appearance on the show Dancing With The Stars.
Appearing on the panel was Former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke, who calmly informed Cornish that Spicer was enjoying a healthy career in media these days. Also sitting in was former Biden communications figure Meghan Hays, and like Cornish, she resorted to default assumptions: “I think it will take a long time to fill because Trump is on his way out. And this is a reputational harm for somebody to step in.”
This positioning ignores some rather basic facts on the Press Secretary alumni. Kayleigh McEnany settled into a high-profile and no doubt lucrative role at Fox News, and Sarah Sanders, as Dubke needed to remind the panel, only moved on to become governor of Arkansas and a rising star in the GOP.
Upon seeing the rather positive afterlife the former Trump press secretaries have enjoyed, Audie had to admit her error: “And Sean Spicer, I learned my lesson. Doing good. Congratulations.”
But the assumptive pall they cast on the role of Trump press secretary also needs to overlook another blatant truth: the previous occupant of that position has not exactly flourished in the following years.
Karine Jean-Pierre was not highly regarded when she served under President Joe Biden, and her stature only shrank as she left with the changeover of the administrations. She first came out with the confounding announcement that she had turned independent. The head-shaking that ensued said plenty.
This was followed by a book release last Fall that few were impressed by. KJP was looked at as a punchline by many in the press during her inept promotional book tour, and she has quietly faded from the public consciousness. But sure, the GOP comms people are the ones suffering reputational harm.
Leavitt’s departure has been a surprise, and she leaves a rather big role to fill. As the odds are being laid out for her successor, there is a mixture of knife-sharpening and dread to be seen from the press. If, like many are speculating today, Scott Jennings is a favorite for the role, he could serve as a formidable replacement. Abby Phillip will surely dread that reality for her ratings.
The post CNN’s Audie Cornish Has to Backpedal After Claiming Trump Press Secretaries’ Futures Are Harmed By the Job first appeared on Mediaite.
