Ever the controversial figure, Sean Spicer has gravitated from his role as the White House Press Secretary (and former White House Communications Director, 2017) and is now embracing authorship with the launch of The Briefing: Politics, The Press, and The President (07/24/2018).
Sean Spicer: Author
So, Sean Spicer resigned. He left the White House. And a month later, he launched a book, which has been met by many wars of words. Now that he’s also “out on his own” (on the book tour), Spicer is back in the public eye like never before. A few days ago on the BBC, he addressed accusations that he lied for President Trump:
Name-Calling Too?
Now, he’s being accused of racial slurs. According to a number of sources, Alex Lombard called out Spicer’s name and said he called him the N-word, and “tried to fight.” But, here’s a little tidbit: they were teenagers at the time, at Portsmouth Abbey School. Lombard said he was 14, “a scared little kid.” … “Remember,” he says.
Even before the news of a long-ago racial slur surfaced today, Spicer has inspired heated debate — both in his roles for the Trump administration and beyond. But, it’s the discussion of his book that’s front and center right now. Even there, though, the critics are having a field day with blistering reviews in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Spicer likens Trump to “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow.”
Beyond the wealth of inaccuracies and literary foibles, perhaps the most memorable quote I’ve seen by critics is the one from Erik Wemple: “‘The Briefing’ isn’t a political memoir, nor is it a work of recent history, nor a tell-all, or tell-anything. Rather, it is a bumbling effort at gaslighting Americans into doubting what they have seen with their own eyes…”
The book itself leaves room for debate and consternation, and Wemple’s quote isn’t the only epic and memorable critical review. Spicer’s own words may be the most foreboding indictment, though. As he looks back at his early days at the White House, Spicer’s says: “I had made a bad first impression, and looking back, that was the beginning of the end.” Perhaps some things don’t change…