Sean Spicer is no longer the White House Press Secretary. Will White House Chief of Staff (and former Chairman of the Republican Party) Reince Priebus be the next Trump cabinet member to lose his position?
That’s the question that’s been asked by political analysts almost since the day President Trump took office in January. Lately, there have been reports that Spicer’s effective replacement, new White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci, was requested by President Trump to assess the job performance of Priebus.
But regardless of whether this rumor is true or not, Priebus’ job is very different from what Spicer’s was. Spicer daily had to face a volatile enemy in the form of the gathered mainstream media — a vitriolic force that just got more argumentative and unruly over time. One could easily argue that Spicer wasn’t up to the task of dealing with such an aggressive and unforgivably biased assemblage from Day One, whereas Priebus’ challenges are much more nuanced and behind the scenes.
What makes an effective White House Chief of Staff? The Chief of Staff helps manage the president’s time, determines who can and cannot meet with him and makes sure that the president gets the information he needs to make important decisions. A person who’s a master of those skills will not only be a good Chief of Staff, but can make or break a presidency, particularly in the case of a weak commander-in-chief. However, since President Trump isn’t known to be the latter, the job Priebus is doing may be more measurable in terms of what the president has and hasn’t been able to accomplish while in office.
It’s said that a smart president learns to empower their Chief of Staff and treat them as a “first among equals” if the value of the latter person is to be maximized. Watch as Fox’s Neil Cavuto and Charlie Gasparino discuss the future of Reince Priebus.
