Politics - News Analysis
Trump’s New Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is a Birther
Donald Trump named his fourth White House press secretary on Tuesday, and it is conservative propagandist and racist birther Kayleigh McEnany.
The 31-year-old Harvard Law graduate, former CNN contributor, and national press secretary for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign follows in the footsteps of Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Stephanie Grisham, who failed to hold a single briefing as press secretary and will be returning to the East Wing as First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff.
In fact, Melania Trump released a press release about the change and the release had a giant typo in the title:
Here is the official release from @FLOTUS regarding @PressSec‘s return to the East Wing as Melania Trump’s chief of staff. Current FLOTUS COS, Lindsay Reynolds, has resigned after three years to spend time with her family. pic.twitter.com/PSIuqqAMoD
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) April 7, 2020
Note how it says “Announces New Announces New Chief of Staff.”
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Now look, here at Political Flare we have made some serious typos. But we don’t have a huge staff and we don’t work in the White House.
I digress…
McEnany’s early skepticism about the potential impact of the new coronavirus doesn’t quite inspire confidence in the midst of a global pandemic and national public health crisis: Appearing on Fox News on February 25, when she was head of press for the Trump 2020 campaign, McEnany said: “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here…and isn’t it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama.”
FLASHBACK: Newly named WH @PressSec @kayleighmcenany, back on Feb. 25: “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here, we will not see terrorism come here, & isn’t that refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama?” pic.twitter.com/s0Fh5iZyYD
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) April 7, 2020
That was but one of many erroneous claims made by McEnany in her illustrious on-air career.
While many Trump staffers exit to tread the well-worn pipeline to Fox News pundit, McEnany is doing the reverse: joining the White House after years of on-air bloviating (she got her start as a producer on Mike Huckabee’s former Fox News show).
In 2012, she signaled support for the racist, propagandist birther movement against Barack Obama (as did her now-boss, Trump).
birth certificates and college transcripts #ThingsThatEnrageDemocrats
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 20, 2012
How I Met Your Brother — Never mind, forgot he's still in that hut in Kenya. #ObamaTVShows
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 30, 2012
Like Grisham before her, “it is unclear whether Ms. McEnany will revive the traditional role of a White House press secretary—answering questions from reporters in a daily briefing,” the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman observed on Tuesday. Rather, she noted, new White House chief of staff Mark Meadows “wants [McEnany] to focus on defending the president on television.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Twitter is sickened:
I'm sure she'll face a lot of interesting questions if she ever gets to the podium. Have we had an openly racist person like this ever behind that podium? https://t.co/Ze3wpN8KXP
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) April 7, 2020
This person is working in the White House, seems grotesque even for this administration. https://t.co/fWFnytGZHz
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) April 7, 2020
Trump's new press secretary was a birther https://t.co/AWmKu50Jjc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2020
The new White House press secretary. https://t.co/uDo2xBfiCN
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 7, 2020
Some see these racist tweets as a knock on McEnany but considering 45's birtherism, its cruel tweets like this that elevated her stock in 45's eyes.
The true indictment is that the GOP stands by idly and watches with silent approval. https://t.co/B5KJu5MlD9
— Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) April 7, 2020
Trump feels more confident that his racism, voter suppression, and misinformation are the way to win re-election. She is the bulldog he needs when his supporters begin to die and his methods may be questioned. https://t.co/l09cwHwZsf
— Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) April 7, 2020
Guys, let's stop dwelling on Kayleigh McEnany's record as a lying pundit and focus a bit on her record as a lying racist. https://t.co/FgBYpKeADW
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) April 7, 2020
Oh look Trump has another awful racist working for him. If Kayleigh was about 15 years younger I’d warn her not to be alone with her boss. @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/aMwgKy8vBg
— NoelCaslerComedy (@CaslerNoel) April 7, 2020
Every anchor, producer, booker or media watchdog who didn’t protest her (or other manufactured fake political strategists put on the air as political commentators/analysts) when Zucker and Trump launched her — you are guilty in creating this sh*tshow we’re in now. https://t.co/6CWvp4HhCo
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) April 7, 2020
As a token conservative pundit on CNN, her greatest hits included sparring with Van Jones in the wake of the 2016 election, as Jones presciently expressed concern that Trump would place undocumented immigrants in internment camps. “Donald Trump has never proposed internment camps,” McEnany argued—another claim that has not aged well.
After leaving CNN in 2017, McEnany moved on to supporting Trump even more baldly, “anchoring” acutely biased Trump TV news briefings that former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said felt “eerily” like state TV.
Join @kayleighmcenany as she provides you the news of the week from Trump Tower in New York! #MAGA #TeamTrump pic.twitter.com/CTi7l6j5Ub
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 6, 2017
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