The White House doesn't have a communications problem. It has a Trump problem.

In defense of Sean Spicer. Sort of.

Sean Spicer.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

You might forgive Sean Spicer and the rest of the White House communications team for not wanting to affix their names to the official denial of The New York Times' scoop that President Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to quash the investigation into Michael Flynn. This is just not a happy time to be a White House communication staffer.

Not only does your boss keep making your job absurdly difficult, every time another crisis comes along, you see stories about the possibility of a White House "shakeup," inevitably featuring the possibility that you and your colleagues will be shown the door. Those potential replacements are located using the time-honored "Trump saw her on Fox News" technique, with the presumption that they'd be better able to shape the news to the president's liking.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.