TOI Correspondent from Washington: For a White House that treats politics as a television spectacle and television as a political show, Donald Trump‘s press secretaries have often looked as though they were selected by a casting director rather than the administration’s personnel office. Katie Zacharia arrived at the White House press room lectern on Tuesday camera-ready, with the familiar blonde look that prompted comparisons with Ivanka Trump, which some trolls insist is a required qualification for the job.Then she opened her mouth, made a meal of a $54 billion pipeline, confused her husband with her new boss, answered three questions from favoured media, and made a hasty exit, reminding America that reading the script and performing the job are two very different things. The White House press sec’s post combines the duties of a diplomat, crisis manager, political attack dog, fact-checker and human shock absorber, and the incumbent must know every policy, anticipate every scandal, explain every presidential improvisation and survive questions about things the president may have said five minutes earlier — or deny saying five years ago. She’s not there yet.Her opening intonation of Trump achievements — from jobs and drug prices to oil deals and naval construction — evoked comparisons to a malfunctioning voice assistant, with the Guardian dubbing her the “Zachbot,” and other critics likening it to a comedy sketch. But the line destined to outlive her tenure came during a discussion of family life. Explaining that she did not intend to sacrifice time with her four children, Zacharia began: “So my president — excuse me, my husband...”To be fair, a slip of the tongue is hardly a constitutional crisis. Every politician has mangled a sentence, none more than Donald Trump, and the briefing room has witnessed considerably worse than a momentary matrimonial mix-up. Most press secs barrel on, but Zacharia instead appeared to decide that the safest answer to a difficult briefing was to stop having one.The reviews were harsh. Aaron Rupar, a journalist who tracks political video, quipped that Zacharia made her predecessor Karoline Leavitt look like Winston Churchill. Another compared her reading level with that of a third-grader — or just above Trump. Even allowing for the customary partisan relish with which Washington grades the other side’s performances, the consensus was that this was not the sort of debut that inspires confidence.Trump, naturally, offered a different assessment, saying he thought she was “very good.” Presidential approval, after all, is the one review that matters most in this particular workplace. But disaster struck when questions arose about where she passed the bar exam, after she was described as a lawyer. “When I moved to China…” she responded, standing behind Trump in a media gaggle outside the White House. That triggered another cascade of jokes, with one late-nighter quipping, “Even Trump’s press secretary is Made in China.”On a more serious note, it emerged that she has a law degree from Pepperdine (2011) and worked as an associate at Zhong Lun, a Beijing law firm (2011–2013). Critics were quick to pounce on it, pointing out that working at a Chinese firm as a foreign law graduate is not the same as being licensed to practice law. Her answers do not establish that she passed a bar exam anywhere, and therefore she cannot call herself a lawyer.What she has passed with flying colours, though, is in the field of conspiracy theories, which she has parlayed aplenty as a MAGA megaphone on TV and social media. And while she has already mastered the MAGA media ecosystem, where a conspiracy theory can be promoted to established fact before the next commercial break, the White House briefing room is less forgiving: the questions are live, the follow-ups are real, and the exit is not always available on demand.For now, though, Trump is happy, the internet is entertained, and the press corps has a new source of material. Going forward, Zacharia’s task is to persuade the world that she is more than a blonde wig, a stack of talking points and a voice assistant that is still buffering.
