According to a Wednesday report from CNN, the White House is taking Kellyanne Conway off television for a while after she veered away from the Trump administration’s official stance regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The report would seem to jibe with Conway’s sudden disappearance from the airwaves; she hasn’t had an on-air interview with any major TV networks since the beginning of last week.
Last Monday, she was telling interviewers that Flynn still had the “full confidence” of President Trump, a claim that looked ridiculous hours later when Trump demanded his resignation. She then said the next morning that Flynn had come to Trump, offering to resign, which was at odds with White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s claim that Trump was the one who initiated Flynn’s departure.
A White House source told CNN that Conway had been “off message.”
Officially, the Trump administration denies the report. Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN that it was just “another wild goose chase” on the part of the media.
“Kellyanne has a number of media appearances this week and also has a large portfolio at the WH and is spending significant time focusing on it,” Sanders said.
Either way, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for Trump if Kellyanne took a break from her busy slate of TV interviews. The woman has a way of generating unnecessary controversy with her “alternative facts” and her “Bowling Green massacres” and her impromptu ads for Ivanka Trump’s merchandise. We think she did a tremendous job as Trump’s campaign manager, but she’s been off her game since the inauguration.
Quite honestly, Trump could just come out every Friday and do a press conference like the one he presided over last week and that would be just fine. No one can convey Trump’s message like Trump himself, and it was apparent again for anyone who watched/attended the rally in Melbourne. When you hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, it’s like – “Oh, see, now it makes sense.” When it gets filtered through Conway or Reince Priebus or even Spicer, the message has a way of falling apart. For as much as we blame the media (and they deserve it for sure), part of the problem is that this administration’s spokespeople aren’t always on the same page.
We admire Trump’s commitment to government transparency – something that was badly missing from the last administration. But it wouldn’t be the worst idea to pull back from the media a little. These reporters aren’t looking for answers; they’re looking for the next controversy. They’re looking for ratings.
It might be time to stop feeding the sharks.
