Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss

Anthony Scaramucci loves the Donald

July 24, 2017

Feeling some grief at the loss of a great straight man today; late night comedy won’t be the same.

Another day, another White House shakeup. Farewell and adieu Sean Spicer; we knew from the very start our relationship would be sort-term, but parting is nonetheless bitter-sweet – we’re gonna miss those Melissa McCarthy parodies. The perfect target, Spicy, the quintessential angry, white, male Republican was a caricature of himself and too good to last.

It’s very telling that Trump had to replace Spicy with two operatives: Sarah Huckabee Sanders as Press Secretary and Anthony Scaramucci as Communications Director. Protecting the Don’s a big job.

Now, Sarah’s a known player. We’ve watched her over the last few weeks and aren’t surprised that she made the cut. Sarah’s demonstrated both flexibility and guile, especially on defense. She can spin a Donald lie or Trump family scandal into a Hillary allegation or Obama failure faster than a presidential pardon.

But, once again, the old favorites: blame Hillary or Obama have aged out of relevance. Hence, Sarah, while competent, seems to lack the imagination required to hold the job for long. Sure, her “in your face” styling and her “on the edge of anger” delivery do bring some interest to the show, but not enough. She’s just a more of the same, a slightly less confrontational (for now) Spicy. Yawn.

At first, the new guy, Anthony Scaramucci, seemed indeed new. Unlike other Trump communication appointments, he has a basic grasp of the English language and, even more unexpected, his delivery is soft.

In his first press event, he seemed more like a smooth salesman than like the angry vice-principal we’ve become accustom to. So, that’s new. And, when he told us he loved the Donald so many times during the press conference that it became awkward, that felt new. But, we’ve felt awkward before, remember various daughter references?   Thing is, awkward is usually reserved for the Donald himself. So, it’s kind of new.

Then, yesterday, Anthony announced he was deleting his old Tweets – specifically any tweets that disagreed with or criticized the Donald. He vaguely characterized the scrubbing as full transparency. And, there it was. The same old Trump communication technique – label reality as something it’s not, but be unclear about it. Regardless of how it’s presented, removing information about a subject is less transparent – not full, except when you’re talking Trump.  Same old…

After bullshitting us for two-hundred-fifty-eight post-election days, the Donald has cast two new full-time liars in an attempt to keep up. And while we appreciate the effort, the republic suspects that the good cop (Scaramucci), bad cop (Sanders) act will only work out for a short time.  Such a tired cliche would typically die right away, except a woman as the bad cop is kind of different and may propel some interest for a while.  But the angry mean woman has been done before – and, face it, Sarah’s no match for Kellyanne.

Just assigning new actors, an aggressive woman and sycophant sales guy, to recite the same old stories (Hillary, Obama, gaslighting for fun and profit) seems lethargic. Low energy. Is the Donald even trying anymore?

Lazy liars are so sad,
osv

PS-
Trump just lashed out at Sessions again. Working for this guy must be a real treat.