President-elect Donald Trump is set to blow up the White House briefing room, ending the cozy relationship and practices of the past as he seizes on new ways to communicate with his nearly 45 million social media followers, according to incoming Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
“Business as usual is over,” he said.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer. AP Photo
Talking with conservative talk radio giant Hugh Hewitt, Spicer also indicated that Trump plans to run for reelection.
In the interview, Hewitt won a promise that Trump will continue to do talk radio, itself a switch from traditional presidential communications practice.
And instead of sticking to standard East Room and briefing room press conferences, Spicer said Trump and his communications team plan to use several additional avenues including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
“He doesn’t look to the past and say I’ve got to conform to these precedents. He figures out what’s the best way. And so maybe we do, you know, a series of press conferences, but maybe we do some town halls, you know, Facebook town halls. Maybe we go out and solicit input from Twitter,” said Spicer, also the incoming communications director.
“There’s no question that you see through the platforms that exist right now, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, he’s closing in on like 45 million people that he can have a conversation with, that there are new and modern tools that exist that while we have to sort of do these press conferences because they’re part of the fabric of our country, if you will, there are also some new opportunities that we can be utilizing to bring more people into the process and have a conservation with the American people and not just limit it through the filter of the mainstream media,” he added.
Spicer, a long-time Republican communicator with a good relationship with the media, said that he is eager to begin a job of a lifetime.
“This is the pinnacle, right? This is what, as a communicator, you dream of. And the idea that President-elect Trump has honored me by this opportunity is truly amazing. And I pinched myself for the last five days every day going holy smokes. So it is honestly the single greatest honor I’ve had in my life, and I hope I live up to it,” he told Hewitt.
He also talked about key issues, describing Trump as very engaged in picking his top staff and Cabinet and focusing on his choice to replace the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
Spicer did not disclose any favorites, but did indicate that the president-elect’s pick will be a strict Constitutionalist.
“You’ve seen already during the campaign he laid out a number of folks from both the Federalist Society and Heritage and other groups that I think met a very, very strict standard that conservatives will be proud of,” said Spicer.
What’s more, the spokesman said that Trump is working toward an eight-year plan, one of the first indications that the president-elect is eyeing reelection with his initial moves.
“He’s not thinking you know, just about hey, how do I get these first three months, these first 100 days, done. He’s thinking how do I, what’s an eight year roadmap,” said the Republican Party strategist and communicator.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
