For quite a few years, White House press secretaries have answered media questions as though they were serious efforts to gain information for stories. For much that time, during Republican administrations, the questions were obviously not intended as solicitations of information or policy, but were in fact attempts to make the incumbent president look bad.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders began to respond combatively. Her successor decided (or was told) to hold no press conferences and thereby frustrate the would-be grandstanders. Which had the desired effect.
Now comes Kayleigh McEnany who has, so far, decided to treat the press briefing the same way the media does, as a “gotcha contest” in which the game is to make the opponent look bad. So far, she’s doing well; the press is shocked the White House ‘punching bag’ is punching them back, hard and accurately.
RealClearPolitics this morning has links to two stories (here and here) about McEnany and her combative approach. It turns out she is practiced in debate as a combat sport, having been the paid designated conservative on otherwise liberal CNN panels for a couple of years (so I hadn’t seen her work). Excellent training for the new role.
Once again, progressives are stupefied when the opposition decides to play by their rules.
Later ... Ms. McEnany needs to lose the fake eyelashes, they can’t handle closeups.
