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.
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.
