President Trump’s relationship with the political press corps is unconventional, to say the least. He tweets at will, leaving reporters to wonder if he’s breaking new ground or sending a political smoke signal to his loyal voting base. He also doesn’t hesitate to publicly badger reporters — by name — who have fallen out of favor, while praising those he likes for friendly coverage.
To try to get a better sense of Trump’s take on the media, and how the president’s unusual approach impacts his staff that has to deal with the fallout, the Washington Examiner spoke to Boris Epshteyn, special assistant to the president and assistant White House communications director.
Washington Examiner: Talk about the president’s unconventional and confrontational approach to the media.
Epshteyn: The president has been unbelievably transparent. He’s had a great media presence throughout the campaign, the transition and now as president, doing interviews with ABC, with Sean Hannity, with CBN. So of course he has a good relationship with media, as well as speaking to some print reporters.
Now, as far as the criticism: The president is an American citizen, and he has the right to criticize the media when he thinks that they’re being unfair. And, as the president, from his position, his goal and concentration is on reaching the American people. It’s not about pleasing the media. It’s cutting, in a lot of ways, cutting through the veneer and any of the distractions that sometimes are put forth by the media and going right straight to the American people. Twitter goes a long way toward that.
And, sometimes when he does feel that criticism is deserved, criticizing those in the media for unfair coverage [is warranted]. Again, look at the story on the Martin Luther King, Jr., bust. That was a typical story from a left-wing media, which was meant to connote somehow or suggest that the president of the United States is somehow biased, or even racist, and it was completely made up. So, the coverage from the media sometimes is skewed, and the president of the Unites States has the right to call it out.
Washington Examiner: Is there a danger that when the president criticizes reporters by name, he puts a target on their back that could endanger their security?
Epshteyn: The president of the United States never intends to put any members of the media in a negative spotlight, or, absolutely, not in harm’s way. It’s a give and take, and it’s a discussion, and members of the media are, of course, are public figures. They go on TV and in print — their names are out there, so, the president of the United States is not putting anything out there that’s not in public view.
Washington Examiner: The president likes to tweet without advance notice. How does that affect your job?
Epshteyn: I love my job; I love working here. I love working for a man who’s authentic and who’s all in on helping the American people and making America stronger. And him being as authentic as he is and able to connect to, and with, the American people as much as he does, it makes me love my job even more. So, I’ve got no qualms about that whatsoever.
Washington Examiner: But does it make your job difficult?
Epshteyn: I wouldn’t say “difficult,” no — no. What I would say is it’s a part of the job and Twitter has been something that’s been sort of a new development, of course, over the past several years. But it’s a very effective tool and a tool that has been used obviously, strongly by the president during the campaign and continues to be used now, as president, to deliver key messages.
Washington Examiner: President Trump has only been in office for two weeks. From the outside it has at times appeared chaotic, at other times as though you’re humming right along. What does it feel like to be in the cauldron?
Epshteyn: It’s such an honor. It’s an honor, an opportunity and it’s really the greatest thing I’ve ever done, I think, in my life, professionally. In terms of operations, it’s been unbelievably productive. You see everything that we’ve accomplished so far.
The president’s delivering everything that he said he would and of course, the very, very strong nomination of Judge [Neil] Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, so it has been resolute and productive. So, whatever media coverage is out there, what’s negative is just media left-wing spin.
Washington Examiner: What does the president want to have accomplished after his first 100 days? What is most important to him?
Epshteyn: It’s the gamut of topics that we talked about throughout the campaign and the transition, right? What’s great about this first time period we’re through now is we’ve been delivering on promises. So, it’s national security and the economy are the top two topics that the president is concentrated on.
Washington Examiner: The rollout of the executive order impacting refugees was chaotic. By contrast, the rollout of the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court went smoothly. Talk about the president’s management style.
Epshteyn: The concentration is not how things are playing on the morning shows; the concentration is on the content. The content is what’s important to the American people and both of these actions — the pause on refugee and immigrant entry to this country, 90-120 days, really a pause and a reassessment — and of course, the nomination of Judge Gorsuch to be the ninth associate justice, are both actions which are key for making America stronger and moving it farther into being a leader in the world and for Americans to be employed and safe and secure.
So, again, the concentration is on what the action entails, and what both those actions entail is betterment for the American people.
Washington Examiner: Address criticism from Republicans in Congress who want to be supportive of the president but feel as though the White House doesn’t always loop them in.
Epshteyn: We’ve been in great communication with the Senate and the House. We’ve been having briefing calls, we’ve been having meetings. Just yesterday, I had the pleasure of being up on the Hill for the meetings that Judge Gorsuch was having. So there’s a lot of coordination. [Former] Sen. Kelly Ayotte shepherding the nomination is something that’s a very, very strong development and something that shows that President Donald Trump is president for all Americans.
Sen. Ayotte was not always in agreement with the president during the campaign, but now, she’s out there saying that this is our president and she’s excited and honored to be working on behalf of the nomination and making sure that Judge Gorsuch is confirmed. So there’s a lot of coordination with the Senate, as there has been with the executive orders. So, we are working well, hand in hand together.
