Serving as communications director for the Republican National Committee may seem like a thankless job in an election year that has seen top GOP officials try to distance themselves from their own nominee, but Sean Spicer knows it’s just part of his role.
“There are doctors who help people who have done bad things, there are lawyers who defend bad people,” Spicer told the Washington Post in an profile published Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s unique to my profession.”
Spicer, who’s been the RNC’s communications director since 2011, has served as one of Trump’s most effective champions, dropping by afternoon cable news shows to defend the nominee’s latest inflammatory remark and providing behind-the-scenes advice on messaging.
The man now charged with defending Trump’s strident anti-immigrant rhetoric and opposition to international trade agreements once championed the exact opposite policies.
Spicer helped promote free trade policies during his tenure as a spokesman for the U.S. trade representative in the George W. Bush administration. He was also a key team member at the RNC when the party decided it needed to reach out to minority voters, including Latino immigrants, after losing the 2012 presidential election.
Yet the veteran GOP hand appears equally comfortable representing his party’s new standard-bearer, telling the Post that what mattered most was a victory in November.
“Every day I want to put points on the board,” he told the newspaper. “That’s what I care about more than anything else.”
“If the charge against me is that I fight to win and I’m intense, then I’m guilty,” he added.
