Kayleigh McEnany is the best spokesperson Trump can
get
Opinion by
Media critic
November 23, 2020 at 1:36 p.m. CST
In a
Friday afternoon briefing, White
House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany fielded a question about
President Trump’s faltering effort to challenge the 2020 election results. Key
commentators — including Fox News’s Tucker Carlson — were questioning some of
the campaign’s legal tactics. What was the reaction to that criticism?
“Again,
that would be a question for the campaign. We at the White House are
aggressively working on covid, winding down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,
among other issues. There will be a drug-pricing announcement later in the
afternoon as well,” responded McEnany.
Boldface
inserted to highlight a troubling use of the first-person plural: By including
herself among all these people working on policy initiatives “at the White
House,” McEnany was shading the truth. Over the past several weeks, she has
spent quite a bit of time moonlighting as a senior adviser for the Trump
reelection campaign, appearing at press briefings and on television to speak
for the campaign — a separate job from her taxpayer-funded work as White House
press secretary.
In
fact, just hours after referring that question to the campaign, she appeared on
Fox News to answer questions for the campaign! After “Fox & Friends
Weekend” on Saturday morning played select clips of McEnany from that Friday
briefing, co-host Pete Hegseth introduced McEnany this way: “That was Kayleigh
McEnany the press secretary yesterday at the White House. Let’s bring Kayleigh
in now in a different role, as Trump 2020 senior campaign adviser,” said
Hegseth.
Several
minutes of Trump propaganda disguised as a news interview followed.
It’s
even more absurd when McEnany is speaking as a campaign adviser and refers
questions to the White House, which employs her to answer those very questions.
That’s what happened during a previous “Fox & Friends” appearance, when she
was asked about giving President-elect Joe Biden access to presidential
briefings. “I haven’t spoken to the president about that — that would be a
question more for the White House but I will say that all laws are being
followed with regard to an expected transition,” said the press secretary/campaign adviser.
The
dual role raised questions as to whether McEnany had run afoul of the Hatch
Act, which prohibits political activities by government employees while on
duty. No way, she tweeted from her personal account: “When
you enter government, you do not lose First Amendment rights. Hatch Act says to
separate govt & political activity, which I diligently work to do.
Reporters (who ironically have freedom of press embedded in the 1st Amendment),
are complaining about my 1A right to speech!”
The
ethics of McEnany’s daily switcheroos are one story. Another is what her double
duty says about the entire Trump operation — which is that the president so
values McEnany’s “skills” that he demands that she represent him in her
official White House capacity as well as on campaign stuff. A central part of
that mission, of course, is appearances on Fox News. Over the past two weeks,
McEnany has been a guest on Sean Hannity’s show at least eight times, the
better to advance their joint venture of ruining American democracy.
Second-string
Trumpites don’t turn in consecutive appearances on “Hannity.” After years of
bumbling from McEnany’s predecessors as press secretary, Trump world has found
its voice in McEnany, whose cocksure and happy presence doesn’t hesitate in
repeating or covering up the lies of the president. She brings a magisterial
panache to misinforming the public.
As she
closed Friday’s briefing in her press-secretary capacity, McEnany was bombarded
with shouted questions from the assembled reporters. McEnany responded, “I
don’t call on activists.” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins objected, “I’m not an activist,
and you haven’t taken questions since Oct. 1, and you just took about five,
Kayleigh. That’s not doing your job.”
Collins
paused, then added, “Your taxpayer-funded job.” It was a necessary addendum.
