In the Catholic Church, committing a cardinal sin means you’re doomed. For those who aren’t Catholic, a cardinal sin would include killing innocent Americans in their neighborhoods or threatening to live-stream a third-world execution,
On Wednesday, in a bit of prophetic writing, I stated — as a former press secretary myself — that newly appointed White House press secretary Katie Zacharia had committed two cardinal sins as a public spokesperson: she wasn’t honest with the press and she didn’t speak with authority.
I probably should have written that she would be gone by the end of the week. However, deep down in my former spokesperson and kind Catholic heart, I wanted to give her a chance in a truly thankless job — take it from me, it is.
But I knew in my mind she was doomed because of her sins.
Zacharia is out. She was fired Friday, just five days after succeeding Karoline Leavitt, hours after Donald Trump urged her to "reconsider" her position. Anthony Scaramucci lasted 10 days in the same job, so Zacharia beat the Mooch's record for brevity.
Seven years on the Hill taught me two golden rules: Be honest with the press and speak with authority. Zacharia managed neither. She looked unsteady, and worse, the falsehoods kept coming. Her debut lasted 14 minutes, and she read from a script.
I also said that her opening statement read like Trump had told her to scroll through his Truth Social and pick the biggest lies. Everything was "historic."
And credibility is the only currency a press secretary has. Trump called her an attorney, but she never passed the bar exam, and she isn't licensed to practice law anywhere in the country.
Asked where she passed the bar, she answered bizarrely by saying when she moved to China. I’m sure Chinese President Xi Jinping was happy to hear that. As a spokesperson, I think what she was trying to do was to deflect the question, and send the media on a wild goose chase. She probably thought there’s billions of Chinese, how will they ever prove me wrong?
Saying something off the wall like that is what you say when you've been caught with your pants down. After 30 years in public relations, I can tell you reporters might — might is worth repeating here — not know something, but they will never forgive if you’re blowing smoke up their derriere.
The official line about why she was fired is that she is "transitioning out." Hahaha: Trump got tired of reading about her lack of intelligence, to put it mildly. Remember, Trump thinks he’s a stable genius, so if his spokesperson sounds like a moron and someone who can’t pass a cognitive test like he could, well, he’ll kick you to the curb and fast.
But her few days were memorable for sure. She was appointed October 9, and by Tuesday she was at the podium, where the notices were brutal. Her debut was torturous. Trump declared it excellent, but Trump, who has spent his life in front of the camera, had to know she was a goner.
Then she was continuously lambasted, and he had to backtrack fast.
For a man who prizes loyalty, being embarrassed by your own appointee is the unforgivable offense. Worse, the Scaramucci comparison was reportedly coming from inside the White House, which tells you the knives were out before the week was over.
Scaramucci lasted 10 days, and Zacharia barely lasted a week. I’m sure the Mooch is happy that his record of shortest tenure under Trump has been broken.
My prediction for her successor? This is easy. Trump should deploy an AI — oops, I mean SI — robot to field questions from a friendly press corps. The bot won't fail a bar exam, and it won't stumble through a script, and if there are cardinal sins like Zacharia committed, he can just blame it on a software glitch.
Because seriously, do you really need a human, smart or stupid, to answer softball questions from Newsmax, Breitbart, Daily Caller or Mike Lindell Media?