Five Days and Out: White House Press Secretary Exits Over Shaky Start and Resume Questions
· MuddySouth Music
Most of us have had a first week on a new job go sideways. Few of us had it happen in front of the whole country. Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after just five days, NBC News and the Associated Press reported Friday. She started Monday, held her first briefing Tuesday, and by Friday officials said she was transitioning out.
What happened
According to NBC News, that first briefing lasted under 15 minutes, and she took only a few questions. The bigger trouble was her resume. She had represented herself as a lawyer, and this week she acknowledged she never passed a bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine Law. A senior administration official confirmed she did not pass the California bar, and a watchdog group, Campaign for Accountability, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California. Reuters reports two officials said she was "let go," which gives her what is believed to be the shortest run of any press secretary in history. That is shorter even than Anthony Scaramucci's famous 11 days as communications director back in Trump's first term.
President Trump said earlier Friday that she had been treated "pretty nastily" and that he would let her make the call. For her part, Zacharia said in a statement that it was an honor to work for him. The job now sits open with the midterm elections less than three weeks out.
Why working folks get this one
Down here, nobody calls himself a master electrician before he passes the test, and nobody hauls a loaded trailer without a CDL in his wallet. A welder's certification, a nurse's license, a contractor's card: working people earn those titles one exam at a time, and they get checked. That is not politics. It is just how trust works on a job site, at a church supper, or anywhere else a handshake still means something. Whatever side you lean, folks can agree that the title on the business card ought to match the work behind it.
From the studio
The line that stuck with me this week did not come out of a briefing room. It came from a MuddySouth Music producer, halfway through a long interview that rambled from taxes to turbo while the board stayed lit. When I brought up the Washington shuffle, he answered with a riddle: is Heaven cold if Hell is hot? He laughed and told me plainly that he does not have an answer for every question, and he is fine saying so. What he does know is that good people have lived and died to keep this country moving, free, and under God. Good headlines or bad, he said, that part is not going anywhere. Then he slid his headphones back on and went back to the mix. Busy day in the studio.
Straight from your writer
Here is my pitch, and every word of it checks out. MuddySouth Music has a big year of outreach and fan get-togethers on the calendar, and the folks on our contact list get the news first, before it lands anywhere else. No credentials required. It is free, takes about a minute, and you will never have to find out secondhand.