RNC Spox Likens His Role To That Of Doctors, Lawyers Assisting ‘Bad’ People

UNITED STATES - February 6: Sean Spicer, Chief Strategist and Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, speaks to reporters in the spin room after the New Hampshire Republican presidential primar... UNITED STATES - February 6: Sean Spicer, Chief Strategist and Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, speaks to reporters in the spin room after the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 6, 2016. (Meredith Dake-O'Connor/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

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.

Latest Livewire
69
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. More like an attendant at the State Home for the criminally insane…

  2. Avatar for zsak zsak says:

    “If the charge against me is that I fight to win and I’m intense, then I’m guilty,” he added.

    … using My Little Pony.

  3. Far be it from me to say that, but if you want to, go right ahead.

  4. No, the charge against you is not somehow a compliment. The charge against you and your kind is that you are amoral traitors who are risking an unimaginable disaster to the country you claim to love in the vain hope of making your defeat slightly less catastrophic to your partisan aims.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

63 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajm Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for mmurdoch Avatar for sysprog Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for tflick Avatar for humpback Avatar for krusher Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for thepsyker Avatar for inlabsitrust Avatar for frankly_my_dear Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for danny Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gobydoc Avatar for addicted4444 Avatar for dickweed Avatar for darrtown Avatar for jinnj Avatar for professorpoopypants Avatar for irishbark Avatar for maximus Avatar for transjane

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: