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UN-TARIFFIC PRESSER - In a recent interview, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that her job is to fight “spiritual warfare” against “evil forces” trying to disrupt President Trump’s actions and initiatives. She went on to say that before her briefings to the press, “my team and I” have a “team prayer and. . . ask God for confidence. . .”
Leaving aside the somewhat shaky relationship between church and state which Ms. Leavitt’s approach embraces, her concept suggests that the White House efforts to quash all the traditional norms in the press, robustly driven by Donald Trump’s persistent disrespect for mainstream media, has filtered down to his staff. He has, after all, banned one reputable national news service from the White House and Air Force One and, more recently, dictated that the President – not, as tradition dictates, the White House press corps – will decide who sits where during briefings. Both moves are clearly designed to put “friendly” media down front and “hostile” reporters in the cheap seats where they are far less likely to get noticed, never mind allowed to ask uncomfortable yet vital questions. In that context, Ms. Leavitt is obviously following orders.
That’s a shame, because there are more than a few critical questions which smart reporters should be asking. Consider just a few examples.
“Donald Trump has attacked a wide range of institutions – universities, law firms, businesses and dozens of government agencies – who employ programs to address discrimination, equality and inclusiveness. Would you characterize his assaults as acts of ‘spiritual warfare’?”
“Ms. Leavitt, you have stated that tariffs are “a tax cut for the American people.” Can you explain how a crashing stock market which is savaging the portfolios of millions of investors is a tax cut? Would you characterize the destruction of middle-American wealth as an “evil force?”
“The administration has cut off $500 million to a food bank which serves 125,00 people in Palm Springs and other communities in California’s Coachella Valley. In all, the administration has refused to provide $1 billion in promised food aid, insuring that people in need throughout the nation will be even more at risk of malnutrition and illness. Have you and your colleagues prayed for a solution to the suffering which those who can’t afford to buy groceries will endure?”
“The President has dismissed attorneys who represent immigrant children facing incarceration and perhaps deportation. A court has ordered their right to counsel be restored. Do you believe that court is ‘evil’ or that immigrant kids should be the object of ‘warfare?’”
“Does the heavenly confidence your prayers provide enable you to explain to the American people how an almost 80-year old overweight man consistently wins every golf tournament he enters?”
Where have you gone, Walter Cronkite? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
(David M. Hamlin is a writer whose short stories have appeared in journals in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. His latest novel, a mystery, is Murder in Tolland.)
