@scottdhenry
♪@scottdhenry ♬ original sound - Scott D Henry
There’s a scene in the final season of “Succession” where Logan Roy, the patriarch of a massive media empire, decides to get real with his children — all of whom are vying to succeed him in the top job.
“I love you,” ▶Logan tells his kids. “But you are not serious people.”
It’s a devastating line.
And it’s the one that’s been running through my head ever since now-ex-White House press secretary Katie Zacharia took the podium for her first briefing on Monday.
If you missed that, um, performance you really shouldn’t. Here’s the greatest hits, in 3 minutes:
WHY WHY WHY does she look down at her notes when she says how happy and proud she is to be the press secretary? HOW is that not something she couldn’t just, well, remember?
The entire press conference only lasted 14 minutes. Zacharia, who had been a talking head on conservative TV before being tapped for this massively high profile and difficult job, took only three questions. And all three from conservative-leaning outlets.
Had that been the extent of her public appearances this week, she might not have been fired by Donald Trump after 5 days on the job on Friday. (She lasted 𝕏less than half of a “Scaramucci”!!!)
But Zacharia wasn’t done talking. Not even close!
After multiple media outlets reported that she had repeatedly claimed to be a lawyer/attorney despite never passing the bar, Zacharia tried to do damage control Thursday night in the (usually) friendly confines of Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel.
Sean Hannity! Accountability journalist!
(Sidebar: If you had Sean Hannity putting the stake in Zacharia, you are WAY smarter than me!)
The Hannity interview immediately went viral. And so, Zacharia apparently decided she needed to clean up the mess the Hannity thing had created. (Remember: She went on Hannity to clean up the mess she had created with her first press briefing and her I’m-not-technically-a-lawyer stuff. Wheels within wheels!)
And so Zacharia found herself on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning. And the dutiful hosts asked her whether she would have done anything differently this week if she could do it all over again.
Oh so announcing that Kim Guilfoyle had been asked to resign as Ambassador to Greece revealed how much confidence President Trump had in Zacharia?!??! And no other past press secretaries got the privilege of making personnel announcement?!?!
Hours later, Zacharia was gone.
It’s easy to roll your eyes at all of this. Or laugh out loud. Because, I mean, five days? Really?!? Also, the number of amazing satires on TikTok and Instagram of Zacharia’s “performance” re-instilled my faith in humanity.
♪This one might be my favorite:
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And it is funny.
But there’s something deadly serious in the rapid decline and fall of Zacharia too.
Go back to Logan Roy and his “you are not serious people” line.
No serious president would ever create a process by which Katie Zacharia was ever even considered to be the face of an administration.
Because even the most modest poking and prodding would have revealed that this not someone up to a job like White House press secretary. Being a talking head parroting MAGA talking points to a friendly anchor isn’t even in the same universe as serving as the White House press secretary.
Here’s the thing though: Zacharia wasn’t vetted. I damn-near guarantee this is how the process worked:
Trump saw Zacharia on Fox News or OANN or some other conservative cable channel
He liked her look
He told someone in his senior staff to bring her in or get her on the phone
When they talked, she flattered Trump to no end and said it would be her dream come true to work for hm.
She’s hired!
THESE ARE NOT SERIOUS PEOPLE.
The first criteria to work for Trump is whether you look the part. The number of people he has hired to work in his administration because they were “straight out of central casting” numbers in the hundreds.
Whether or not you actually have the skillset (or MIGHT have the skillset) to do the job for which you are being hired is a secondary concern. (See: “Hegseth, Pete.”)
This method of hiring for senior staff and Cabinet positions in an administration has consequences. Negative consequences. Lots of them.
Zacharia, in truth, is far from the worst. She was on the job for five* total* days. She held one, 14-minute press briefing. She will be a footnote in history (if that).
But a president — and an administration — that would even consider Zacharia for the White House press secretary gig? That’s a MUCH bigger problem. And one that will echo through the federal government (and the country and the world) far after Trump is gone.
