James Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
In a recent interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” several former White House press secretaries issued warnings and concerns about the incoming Trump White House and its relationship with the media.
“We’ve just elected a man who bullies female reporters at his rally as an applause line,” said Nicole Wallace, communications director under former President George W. Bush. “We have just elected a man who started a hot war with a female anchor instead of attending a debate she moderated. We are in a new place. And I don’t think it’s good. And I don’t think it has any parallels to the past.”
Bill Clinton’s press secretary, Joe Lockhart, warned over Trump’s tendency to ignore or simply make up facts. “It’s somewhat Orwellian, which, you know, you redefine the past, which means you can define the present and the future,” Lockhart said. “And that’s going to be very difficult for both sides to come to grips with.”
Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under Bush, addressed the mutual animosity between the press and Trump. Especially with public confidence in the press at historic lows, “the press has made itself vulnerable, because it lost the trust of their readers and their viewers — and Trump has widely taken advantage of it,” Fleischer concluded.
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