Is Sean Spicer Getting Fired?

By Lauren Evans  |  May 14, 2017 | 10:39pm
Politics

Sean Spicer, a wicked little man with a near-impossible job, may be on his way out as White House press secretary, if rumors of a forthcoming “huge reboot” are to be believed.

According to Axios, Trump is reportedly mulling firing several top officials, including Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, counsel Don McGahn and yes, Spicer:

“He’s frustrated, and angry at everyone,” said one of the confidants.
The conversations intensified this week as the aftermath of the Comey firing pushed the White House from chaos into crisis. Trump’s friends are telling him that many of his top aides don’t know how to work with him, and point out that his approval ratings aren’t rising, but the leaks are.
“The advice he’s getting is to go big — that he has nothing to lose,” the confidant said. “The question now is how big and how bold. I’m not sure he knows the answer to that yet.”

Axios’s story is corroborated with reporting from the New York Times, which identified Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle as Trump’s potential first choice to succeed Spicer:

Mr. Trump is growing increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of his chief of staff, Reince Priebus; the communications director, Michael Dubke; and Mr. Spicer, a Priebus ally, according to a half-dozen West Wing officials who said the president was considering the most far-reaching shake-up of his already tumultuous term.
He has been especially critical of Mr. Spicer, they said, openly musing about replacing him and telling people in his circle that he kept his own press secretary out of the loop in dismissing Mr. Comey until the last possible moment because he feared that the communications staff would leak the news.

That sounds like a rough time for Lil’ Spice, who probably spent a long, torturous Sunday rewatching Melissa McCarthy navigate the streets of New York on a magic podium as she skewered him for SNL.

The evident instability of the White House was made abundantly clear during last week’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, with staff apparently operating from a totally different playbook than the president. At one point, Trump took to Twitter to address the fact that the message delivered by his aides departed entirely from his own:

He also tweeted that perhaps it would be “best” to end all future press briefings to avoid confusion, an idea he doubled down on during an interview with Fox’s Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night. Pirro also asked Trump directly whether Spicer would continue to be the press secretary “today and tomorrow.”

“He’s doing a good job but he gets beat up,” Trump said. She asked again.

“He’s been there from the beginning,” he said.

Bye, Spice!

 
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