Tag Archives: Bill Shine

WH communications chief: worst job in D.C.

I have determined that the worst job in Washington, D.C., is one that should be the most fun. It is the White House communications director.

Bill Shine is leaving that post in the Donald J. Trump administration. Shine is the fifth individual to have served as communications director in the two years of Trump’s time as president.

Let’s see, I can think of Hope Hicks, Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci . . . OK, I’ve lost track of the rest of them prior to Shine.

I just know that there have been five of them. Who’s next? Who in the world would want the job?

It’s being reported that Shine — a former protégé of the late Roger Ailes, the founder of Fox News — had fallen out of favor with the president in the weeks prior to his sudden resignation; he is going to work as a senior adviser to the Trump re-election campaign.

I guess evidence of Shine’s lack of input into Trump’s communication strategy must rest in that hideous rambling rant the president gave a week ago at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump set a presidential speech record, blabbing unscripted for 2 hours, 2 minutes at CPAC. It was, to put it bluntly, a ghastly performance.

Do you think Shine had any say in that demonstration of Donald Trump at his worst? I do not think so.

The question then becomes: Who in the world would ever want to take on the job of managing this president’s communications strategy? This individual, the president, is unmanageable. He is incoherent and he is incorrigible.

Yep, this is what Donald Trump calls his “fine-tuned machine.”

Yikes.

It’s no longer ‘Shine’-ing in WH communications office

Bill Shine is gone from the White House communications office.

He’s the fifth such communications director to come and go in little more than two years of the Donald Trump administration.

What gives here?

Shine is moving to the Trump re-election campaign as a senior adviser. He gets to spend more time with his family, or so it’s been reported.

As for the communications operation, well . . . this White House needs one. Badly. Bigly. Whatever. However, it doesn’t exist.

No more Shine at WH

It’s fair to ask: Does the president want a communications operation? He damn sure needs one, given the chaos and confusion that emanates daily — if not hourly — from the White House.

Tradition has been tossed into the crapper by this president. One traditional item involves a communications office that coordinates the message being delivered by the White House. It ain’t happening with this operation.

The president sends out a Twitter message communicating policy on a whim and an impulse. The communications office is caught flat-footed, unable to catch up with what Trump is saying.

Shine came aboard after serving a stint as an executive with the Fox News Channel, the president’s media outlet of choice. I guess Shine’s Fox connection wasn’t enough to keep him at his new White House post for very long.

The word is that Trump and Shine never really developed much of a bond. Imagine that. Near as I can tell, the president doesn’t develop personal bonds with anyone who’s not named “Trump” or who is not married to someone with a Trump name.

Whatever future awaits this president, the smart money now suggests that Donald Trump well might be his own communications director.

Oh . . . brother. This’ll be fun to watch.