If you have been watching the White House press briefings recently, you will notice that Jen Psaki seems to have checked out.
You can tell she does not want to be there and is ready to be done with it all.
In fact, Psaki has been testier than usual and she is hardly hiding her contempt too. Also, we all know that Psaki is quite a skilled liar and manipulator, but she is even slipping in those areas too.
As I said, put a fork in her, and she is done.
It appears that she is tired of defending the bumbling Joe Biden and all of his massive blunders.
So she’s got her exit strategy in the works right now, and her plan is to go to MSNBC, but that plan is now causing a media and ethics scandal.
The Hill reported:
White House press secretary Jen Psaki looks set to leave her job soon — but it’s her next move that’s causing controversy.
Psaki is expected to go to MSNBC, where it appears likely she will host a show, perhaps on the streaming platform Peacock.
The problem isn’t that someone with a high-profile political role is on the cusp of getting a cable news gig. That is a very well-trodden path.
What’s unusual about Psaki’s case is that she has seemingly been negotiating such a deal while still serving as White House press secretary. CNN was also widely reported to be trying to secure her services but apparently lost out to MSNBC.
The episode creates bad optics all around.
At a minimum, it gives rise to the perception that Psaki has had an incentive to treat potential future employers favorably — and that CNN and MSNBC, both competing to land her, have had their own incentives to ingratiate themselves with her.
“It’s hard for the White House to have their chief spokesperson be on deck to be working with the people who are sitting at the briefing,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a professor emeritus at Boston University who specializes in political communications. “And it’s bad for cable news, which already has a reputation for being overly partisan, overly biased.”
“She isn’t even out the door yet and she is one direct deposit away from starting a job at MSNBC,” Berkovitz added, “so it’s bad for both sides.”
I don’t think it’s shocking that someone in Biden’s admin is using their position of power to line their pockets.
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