Scaramucci plans to vastly improve Trump’s TV image
WASHINGTON — Since Day One, Donald Trump’s White House has failed where he once had his most success— on television. Anthony Scaramucci intends to turn that around.
According to Republicans close to the White House, Scaramucci — one of Trump’s few regular on-air allies and now his communications director —will make booking members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and party strategists on TV a priority to regain some measure of control over the storylines dominating Washington. It is this surrogate operation that was never properly developed by Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, they say.
The former Wall Street financier and GOP insider known as the Mooch signaled this week that he understands the value of Trump aides being seen on TV, tweeting he would reinstate regular televised news briefings at the White House.
“They’re missing an opportunity, especially since they don’t like what they are hearing in the press,” said Taylor Griffin, who booked surrogates on TV in the George W. Bush White House. “One of the things we hear about the Mooch is he’s going to put together a sophisticated operation.”
Trump has had a small team dedicated to surrogate operations from the start, but they had not been aggressive about asking their allies to appear on TV, according to five people familiar with the situation under Spicer.
As a result, there had been little coverage of the White House’s policy priority statements or its theme weeks, such as last week’s “Made in America” focus or this week’s “American Heroes Week.”
“It’s a missed opportunity,” said a former Trump aide who is in regular contact with the White House. “They have to do a better job selling their story. If you don’t tell your story, someone is going to tell it for you.”
It’s not an easy ask for a media shop that knows its surrogates will face a slew of tough questions on topics that go beyond the policy issue of the day. Many are unprepared and unwilling to deal with questions about the FBI and congressional investigations into whether Trump’s team colluded with Russia to meddle in the presidential election, Trump’s prolific and incendiary tweets or the potential ethical conflicts with the family business.
Plus, the president often changes his mind on issues — a recent example was his own strategy for replacing the Affordable Care Act — making the task of speaking for him nearly impossible.
“It puts people in difficult positions when things change,” another former aide said. “You can’t get surrogates on TV when story is changing.”
But Republican operatives and communications experts think it’s necessary, and something Scaramucci will tackle.
“The administration gets in the way of its own message all the time,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who is a paid political commentator on CNN. “You still want your advocates out there making the best case for you.”
Spicer, a longtime communications director at the RNC, understands the value of television, helping organize a surrogate operation for the party for years. Several people who spoke to Spicer and other aides about possibly joining the communications staff in recent months touted the benefit of using surrogates to control the debate and spread the message.
This hole in the communication strategy — which marks a break from previous Republicans and Democratic presidents —has baffled Trump supporters who believe Trump, facing record low approval ratings, would be more successful if he could get his message out.
They cite his biggest success to date: The Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch that followed a publicity blitz that included booking supporters on TV to talk about the judge’s qualifications and records. The nomination fight, however, was run largely by outside advisers and the Republican National Committee.