The adviser faces the difficult task of formulating a new path for a mercurial president out of an emergency that shows no sign of abating,
Returning to the West Wing just a month after impeachment, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers found a presidency in crisis: a deadly disease outbreak, a tumbling stock market and a White House struggling to form a clear message about how it was confronting a quickly escalating threat.
For Hope Hicks, it marked a challenge unlike any other — trying to develop a communications strategy for the president to carry with a wartime footing in an election year. As one of the few aides Trump implicitly trusts, the former White House communications director urged the president to act as a frontman for the coronavirus crisis — a leader who could offer calming messages, critical health information and important updates on the progress of the White House’s response efforts, instead of delegating those responsibilities to health officials or the vice president.
It’s an approach in perpetual flux, thanks largely to a mercurial president who acts on his own instincts, prefers the spotlight in the crisis and offers up rhetoric often designed more for his base than the masses in the midst of an unprecedented situation.
Now Hicks, 31, faces the difficult task of formulating a new path for Trump out of an emergency that shows no sign of abating, even as the economy starts to reopen in a handful of states. She must position the president in a way he wants to be viewed as the man in charge, while guarding against the threat of overexposure that many aides and allies say poses a substantial political risk to Trump and his party just six months before a general election.
The daily briefings are no longer seen inside the White House as the most effective format for Trump, so she and others must develop other venues and weigh when he can again start to travel to events that so energize him. Internally, aides believe his outsize platform can break through the clutter of news — even if the briefings do not end up being his preferred medium in the coming weeks.
“She understands the president is the message. It cannot be outsourced to anyone,” said Tony Sayegh, one of Hicks’ friends and a former assistant secretary of the Treasury and close aide to Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “He is at his strongest when he is communicating directly with the public. Her instincts are impeccable and lead to good decisions.”
……….
“Look, the briefings were clearly created and designed to try to fix the president’s political health and had very little to do with public health,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary under President Barack Obama who now serves as senior counsel for Bully Pulpit Interactive Media. “Even before Thursday’s disinfectant fiasco, the level of misinformation and contradictory messaging at a moment when the country needs clarity has been jarring and dangerous.”
………..
By March 9, when Hicks officially joined the White House, the severity of the pandemic had become clear. She quickly realized the whole government needed to zero in on the virus. She started to attend the daily task force meetings to offer advice on strategy and the best way to respond to the story of the day and communicate with the public.
……..
Along with Kushner, Miller and staff secretary Derek Lyons, Hicks urged the president to give an Oval Office address to the nation to convey the seriousness of the pandemic amid Americans’ rising anxiety and volatility in the stock market — a speech, on March 11, that critics panned because of Trump’s stilted delivery and a raft of inaccuracies that aides later had to clarify.
A few days later, Trump gave a briefing in the Rose Garden that restored confidence among White House aides.
At the urging of aides and political advisers, Trump started to cast himself as a wartime president. He treated the daily briefings like a campaign rally. Meanwhile, the Democratic presidential race receded from the attention of Americans, giving Trump center stage. Some of his advisers and aides hope he can use this to his advantage.
……..
A huge part of the Trump administration’s calculus on fighting the coronavirus has come down to messaging: the president’s ability to sell Americans on the efficacy of the response.
The next messaging challenge for Hicks will be planning events focused on an economic recovery in the aftermath of the crisis, especially with a president who is eager to get out of the White House and back on the road.
But messaging alone may not be enough to boost Trump’s political future if the U.S. fails to produce enough tests, or the unemployment rate continues to spike or the reopening of the economy in different states backfires.
……….
- Discussion
-
For Hope Hicks, the coronavirus marked a challenge unlike any other — trying to develop a communications strategy for the president to carry with a wartime footing in an election year https://t.co/TzmN2eTsvH
— POLITICO (@politico) April 27, 2020
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.