Trump's new spokeswoman: hardly in office, already fired

Trump's new spokeswoman: barely in office, already fired After a shaky first appearance and a scandal over her job title, President Trump dismissed the new spokeswoman of the White House, Katie Zacharia. The new spokeswoman for Donald Trump was in office for only five days. She was dismissed on Friday after President Trump told her that she was not created for the position. If he were, he would reconsider it, he said to reporters. "Katie, do you need this? I don't think you need it." She had been treated as "mean" by the media. For 41-year-old Katie Zacharia, her first week in office as spokeswoman for the White House did not go well. She presented herself to the American public as a lawyer, although she is actually just a jurist. This was uncovered by the Wall Street Journal this week. She completed her legal studies at the conservative incubator Pepperdine University in Malibu, but failed the California state exam. Afterward, she worked for a law firm in Beijing before moving to the right-wing organization Fix California. On Thursday, Zacharia had to admit that she had not passed the bar exam. Earlier, during her time as a commentator for the conservative television station Newsmax, she had been regularly called "lawyer." Trump had also introduced her as an "attorney" when appointing her. The American Bar Association describes a "lawyer" or "attorney" as someone who represents clients. This requires a license. In the White House, they initially stood behind Zacharia. Ultimately, they did not hire a lawyer, but a spokeswoman, the defense said. Nevertheless, the affair made international headlines – a slightly better start for Trump's new spokeswoman. Her appointment apparently came as a surprise to her as well. The President liked her media appearances, in which she always vehemently defended him: "I often saw her on television," he said on Friday before firing her. Trump as her superhero Zacharia's first official appearance on Tuesday also caused derisive comments. The well-known independent journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on the platform X, "My God, she is so brutally bad. She makes her predecessor look like Winston Churchill." Criticism also came from conservative circles, albeit more reserved. Sarah Matthews, Trump's former deputy spokeswoman, reportedly stated, "More so than average." In fact, Zacharia seemed nervous during her first, barely fifteen-minute press briefing. She read most of it from her notes, stumbled over single sentences, and in a particularly embarrassing moment, she confused her husband with the President. "That was a good punchline," she said to deflect the reporter. She did not lack admiration for her new boss. "I have wanted to work for Trump for a long time," she explained. "He has so much energy!" She referred to the many campaign events where Trump visited the Republican congressional candidates from time to time to support them: "The visitor numbers are breaking all records." Then followed a list of Trump's achievements: He stopped the fentanyl flow from China, created hundreds of jobs, increased the purchasing power of Americans, and forced the Venezuelan regime to its knees. In Zacharia's depiction, Trump appeared as a political superhero who is setting one success after another. However, economic data and political polls paint a different picture. Inflation burdens American households, the war against Iran meets resistance, and Trump's approval ratings are low. For Republicans, much is at stake in the congressional elections on November 3rd. Zacharia did not seem to see her task primarily as providing the media with information about government activities: "My goal is to communicate in complete tandem with the President, as he is the best speaker for himself, and he absolutely determines the course." She did not give the attending journalists much opportunity to ask questions. Only three did. Then the press conference was over. She did not withstand the pressure The 41-year-old had taken one of the most prominent positions in the White House. Spokeswomen are always in the tension between loyalty to the President and the public's right to information. This was already the case when Herbert Hoover appointed George E. Akerson, his former campaign aide, as the first official spokeswoman of the White House in 1929. But under Trump, they are also on the front line in the President's fight against the critical media. Zacharia's predecessor Karoline Leavitt managed to hold out against a dominant President and a press that is regularly declared the "enemy of the people" by the government. She smiled and shared. But Zacharia lacked the tools to withstand the pressure after the mockery of her job title came to light. When the moderator Sean Hannity questioned her hard on Fox News, she began to stutter and offered further half-truths. This disqualified her in the end – and she lost the backing of her boss. She sets a record: Trump's communications director Anthony Scaramucci was dismissed after only eleven days in 2017, allegedly because he was too critical. Zacharia, on the other hand, did not fail because she did not give the President enough support.