President Donald Trump’s pick for White House press secretary lasted five days. A new CNN analysis says the fallout could follow him straight into the midterms.
CNN analyst Aaron Blake wrote on Saturday morning that Katie Zacharia’s “stunningly short and turbulent tenure” isn’t the biggest blunder of Trump’s second term. But it does “rank remarkably high on the embarrassment quotient,” he wrote.
“In one fell swoop over the course of a week, the White House confirmed how rudderless, impulsive and hubristic its entire operation is,” Blake wrote. He added that it happened “with just a few weeks to go before voters render their judgment on it.”
Trump fired Zacharia on Friday, advisers told CNN. Her stint was half as long as that of Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s first-term communications director, who lasted 11 days.
Blake said the trouble began with vetting. Zacharia had repeatedly claimed to be a lawyer, but she never passed the bar exam. When “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones asked her about it, she said: “Those questions weren’t asked.”
The White House had plenty of time to get it right, Blake noted. Karoline Leavitt announced she was leaving the job on Aug. 12.
Zacharia’s first briefing on Tuesday didn’t go well. She spent most of 14 minutes stumbling through a script and took questions from just three conservative-friendly outlets. The White House then sent her on a tour of friendly media. Blake said that backfired when Trump allies such as Fox News host Sean Hannity pressed her with tough questions.
White House communications director Steven Cheung had praised her “tremendous start.” Later in the week, he said she would be remembered as “one of the all-time greats.”
“Oops,” Blake wrote.
He said the real damage is that the episode feeds an existing story about Trump’s “chaotic leadership style.” He cited Signalgate, Trump’s tariff whiplash and the firings carried out under Elon Musk. A CNN poll in July found that 65% of Americans disapproved of how Trump manages the federal government.
“‘A Zacharia’ doesn’t have the same ring to it as ‘a Scaramucci’ does,” Blake wrote. “But her tenure is an unforced error that gives voters a similar shorthand at a remarkably inopportune time for Trump.”
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