*Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, will be leaving next month to accept an on-air offer from MSNBC. She’s good at her job and will be missed.
There’s certainly ample career precedent for those in an Administration-spokesperson spotlight. We often think of official spokespeople more as proponents of a cause than pursuers of a career. But knowledgeable insiders who are comfortable in front of a camera have never been more valued by the electronic media, which has never been more politically polarized, blindsided by technology and pressured by the Fox-era competition.
But Psaki, of course, is no Sean Spicer. So it’s unlikely that she will appearing on “Dancing With The Stars.”
* Also making politico-video news is Mick Mulvaney, a former chief of staff of President Donald Trump. He has been brought in by CBS News as a commentator. Oops. We get it that CBS is trying to assure itself of perspective that crosses ideological aisles to inform. That–and not luring viewers to cherry pick media outlets for validation–should be the aim. (So Chris Wallace, for example, leaving Fox–finally!–for CNN makes eminent sense for all parties.)
But not somebody like Mulvaney, who was a minion for the worst president in U.S. history. One who bashed the media his boss hated; who PROUDLY admitted Trump had engaged in a sleazy quid pro quo with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy over Biden family dirt; and who referred to COVID-19 as the media “hoax of the day.”
CBS is trying to be CYA realistic—in anticipation of what could be very successful mid-terms for Republicans. And there are those 74 million voters who chose Trump in 2020. But there’s pragmatic—and then there’s selling out. That’s why we’ve seen a backlash from a number of CBS personnel who found the move more sacrilegious than, well, pragmatic.
We’ll give Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’s “Late Show,” the last word(s). “Recently, my network has gotten a lot of criticism—much of it from itself,” said Colbert, “because CBS News has hired the ex-president’s former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. … WTF?!”
* “The restrained and good humor demonstrated by (Chris) Rock should be a role model for those who want to defend free expression from bullies on the right and the left—and from whichever side of the culture war ends up claiming (Will) Smith.”–Eric Boehm, Reason.