The Original Spin

I must confess to rubbing my hands together and snickering with glee when I heard that The Mooch had posthumously released his master plan for fixing the White House Communications Office. After his frothing attacks on his brand-new colleagues led to his immediate ouster, I figured his “plan” would be an exercise in utter bluster and machismo. But that’s not the case.

Being a person brought in on short notice to fight for clients in the midst of crisis means that I’ve been privy to a LOT of professional “strategy memos” written by executives at large corporate PR companies. And, to be honest, The Mooch writes a better memo than many of the pros.

Sure, there are some groaners like his bright idea to try to raffle off a game of golf with the President and focusing on the “good news” of POTUS’s golf skills, but The Mooch also got a lot right. He’s absolutely correct that the WH Comms team needs to de-escalate the hostility with the professional political media. He’s also totally right that the media is one of the clients of the press office, not its enemy. Something Spicer never really accepted. And, finally, The Mooch absolutely right that a good press office needs to be setting the agenda and messaging about the WH ever day rather than constantly reacting to someone else’s message.

He was naive that it would be that easy because, to use a term he’s fond of, the fish really DOES rot from the head and there’s no way to stop that as long as Donald Trump keeps running amok as he has for 6 months. I think we all know that’s unlikely to change.

Dunno what you’re doing next, Mooch, but if you get a handle on the potty mouth and anger management issues drop me a resume. You never know what might happen.