Back again, Sean? You’re almost like an ambassador...
HE was forced to defend Donald Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ but Sean Spicer has not been rewarded with an offer to become the next US Ambassador to Ireland yet, he revealed yesterday.
The former White House press secretary was back in Dublin promoting his book, The Briefing, about his time working under the US president, but he refused to be drawn into speculation about the ambassadorial role.
The position has remained vacant since Kevin O’Malley, a Barack Obama appointee, stepped down upon Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. ‘I have been honoured to serve this country in many ways,’ Mr Spicer told reporters. ‘Right now, I’m enjoying a book tour and there’s nothing on the table.’
Ireland is one of only five countries in Europe without a US Ambassador since Trump moved into the White House. Two favoured candidates – lawyer and philanthropist Brian Burns and billionaire Edward Crawford – both dropped out of contention.
Mr Spicer – who appeared on the Late Late Show in January – admitted he found it ‘problematic’ that Ireland has been left without a US ambassador.
‘Obviously as someone who cares deeply about the country, I’d love to see an ambassador named and in place more than anything,’ he said
During his appearance, Mr Spicer, whose great-grandfather emigrated to the US from Cork, also defended Trump’s style of megaphone diplomacy, in which many of his policies are set out over Twitter. The president frequently uses the platform to attack his opponents, recently branding, African-American former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman ‘a dog’ in a tweet. ‘There’s no one who has the ability to message like he does, hands down,’ Mr Spicer said.
He used the example of political rallies, in which politicians frequently spend thousands of dollars to advertise their appearance.
‘You would basically spend a boatload of money to create a product. Trump sends a tweet and people are lined up around the block for hours on end,’ he said. ‘That is just not how it has ever worked before. He can do things that nobody else has.’
But he admitted he often found himself struggling to explain some of the president’s messaging, and joked that if he could
‘There’s nothing on the table’
predict what Donald Trump was going to tweet next, ‘I’d make a lot more money.’
Despite the many criticisms levelled at the President, Mr Spicer is confident that he will be re-elected in 2020. But the former press secretary does not agree with his former boss on every point, admitting that he does not believe the media are ‘the enemy of the people’, as Mr Trump has often claimed.
He also insisted he does not miss his old job, and said he was glad his former deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders is now in charge. ‘There is not a single day that I look back. I was honoured and privileged to do that job,’ he said.
Trump’s new feud – Page 13