Stephanie Grisham, the president’s press secretary, twice recently said things that are appalling and below the dignity of her office.
First, she heartily endorsed her boss’s characterizing people who oppose him as “human scum.” A few days later, she said that Gen. John Kelly, one of the country’s bravest and most decorated military officers and President Trump’s former chief of staff, “was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president.”
“The genius of our great president” is something one might expect to hear in North Korea, not the United States.
Loyalty to the president and first lady is one thing, but Grisham is clearly a sycophant in a job that requires her to not be.
So, knowing that her boss is glued to Fox News, what should Grisham — whose first priority seems to be keeping her job — have said when she appeared on Fox and Friends and was asked about Trump labeling his political opponents “human scum”? Fair question.
Here’s a suggestion: “You know the president. He doesn’t mince words. A lot of people love that about him. Far be it from me to judge what he said. If nothing else, he always tells us what he thinks.”
That would have shown appropriate deference to her employer without endorsing his divisive remarks about anyone who dares disagree with him.
I worked for three White House press secretaries and quickly learned that the position is one of the most difficult in Washington. Its occupant is expected to serve and satisfy two masters who have starkly different agendas and are often adversaries. Every day in the Reagan White House, press secretaries Jim Brady, Larry Speakes, and Marlin Fitzwater faced the likes of such journalistic giants as Helen Thomas, Sam Donaldson, Chris Wallace, Judy Woodruff, and Andrea Mitchell, among many others, who were determined to find flaws in whatever administration policies were being discussed.
Brady, Speakes, and Fitzwater were indisputably loyal to President Ronald Reagan, but they were also loyal to the American people. They had a reverence for the podium from which they spoke. That’s because Reagan himself understood and deeply respected the role of a free press in our democracy. While he expected his spokesmen to be articulate and forceful advocates for him, he did not want them to be sycophantic political cheerleaders.
This was both altruistic and practical on his part. Reagan knew that if his spokespeople were to be effective, they could not be viewed as toadies. He expected them to be honest and responsive in answering questions from a skeptical press corps in a way that showed the best side of what he was doing but not to be shrill partisans.
It was rarely easy to thread that needle, but that’s what a White House press secretary is — or at least, was — expected to do. That was back in the day when the press secretary came to the White House Press Briefing Room every weekday to take questions from reporters. Now, the White House press secretary is little more than an enabler to a president who not only has no respect for the role of a free press in a democracy but seeks to destroy the credibility of those who speak against him. That is truly dangerous.
The position of White House press secretary is one of the most important and revered in our country’s history. Most who have occupied the position have made a significant contribution to our democracy, including such dedicated and talented public servants as Stephen Early, James Hagerty, Pierre Salinger, Bill Moyers, Dee Dee Myers, Bill McCurry, Brady, Speakes, and Fitzwater, among many others.
With all due respect, Grisham, thus far, is an unworthy successor. That’s because she is a coward. Unlike all of her recent (pre-Trump) predecessors, she refuses to take questions from the White House press corps at a daily briefing. Instead, she doles out unchallenged answers to questions from reliably friendly outlets such as Fox News. She is unwilling to engage in a serious discussion of Trump administration policies, preferring to join many Trump White House aides in bemoaning how unfairly their boss is treated. Maybe that’s because a serious discussion of Trump administration policies would reveal a lack of depth or logic.
A few feet from Grisham’s office is the James S. Brady White House Press Briefing Room, named to honor a man who loved his country very much and had an unmatched ability to serve two masters simultaneously with integrity. Brady was better than anyone at advocating for his boss’s positions while being honest with reporters. Sadly, he was mortally wounded on the job by a bullet intended for Reagan. One hopes, of course, that no such thing befalls Grisham, but it might be worth her while to wander down the hall and think about what’s at stake and how she can best serve the country.
Mark Weinberg is a communications consultant and executive speechwriter who served as special assistant to the president and assistant press secretary in the Reagan White House and director of public sffairs in the office of former President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of the best-selling memoir, Movie Nights with the Reagans.
