The five Trump communications directors who have come and gone
Bill Shine’s exit as White House communications director is the latest resignation from a post that President Trump has had trouble filling since the beginning of his term.
The former Fox News executive is the fifth person who has served as the White House communications director. He lasted more than 240 days.
{mosads}That’s actually the longest stint for the position under Trump, who often acts as his own communications director.
Here’s a look at the revolving door of White House communication directors over the last 14 months or so.
Sean Spicer
Sean Spicer was appointed to the position after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017.
Spicer was the communications director and press secretary, and immediately came under criticism for insisting a day after Trump’s inauguration, in comments from the White House press briefing room, that that Trump had the largest inauguration crowd ever despite clear photographic evidence to the contrary.
Spicer initially served in the position for 45 days.
Mike Dubke
Mike Dubke, a veteran Republican operative, was hired to help restructure the White House communications team amid numerous controversies.
He had only been on the job for 88 days before resigning at the end of May 2017.
Sean Spicer
Dubke’s resignation put Spicer once again in the role of White House communications director on an interim basis.
He remained in the role for 49 days until July 21, 2017 — when he left the White House.
The former spokesman and strategist for the Republican National Committee got in trouble a few times for his on-camera comments during contentious press briefings with reporters.
He apologized after making a reference to “Holocaust centers” instead of concentration camps during an ill-fated comparison of Adolf Hitler and Syrian President Bashar Assad. Spicer also mistakenly said that Hitler had not used chemical weapons on his own people in criticizing Assad’s use of them.
He was also famously parodied by Melissa McCarthy on “Saturday Night Live.”
Spicer might be the best-known White House communications director given the heavy attention on his role during Trump’s first six months in the White House and the McCarthy parody.
He made a surprise cameo appearance at the 2017 Emmys and recently accepted a new job as a “special D.C. correspondent” for “Extra.”
Anthony Scaramucci
The communications director with the shortest White House employment was Anthony Scaramucci, who only lasted 10 days before being removed by the president.
The former Wall Street financier lost his job on the same day that former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly assumed his new role as Trump’s chief of staff.
Scaramucci was dismissed by Kelly in July 2017 following a profanity-laced tirade during an interview with The New Yorker directed at former chief of staff Reince Priebus and then-chief strategist Stephen Bannon.
Priebus and Spicer both vehemently opposed Scaramucci’s hire, and Spicer resigned on the day he joined the staff.
“The Mooch” went on to make a name for himself as one of the president’s defenders on cable talk shows. In January, he joined the season two cast of “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition.”
Hope Hicks
Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s most loyal and trusted advisers, was another White House communications director who ended up having one of the longest tenures.
Hicks announced her resignation in February 2018 and left on March 29 after 225 days on the job.
The former model and public relations professional was brought into the White House after working at the Trump Organization since before the real estate mogul launched his presidential bid in 2015.
While it was reported that several members of the administration were privately pushing for her to join Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, Fox announced in October that she would become the media company’s chief communications officer.
Bill Shine
Shine took over for Hicks in July 2018 and was tasked with fixing a communications department that saw frequent infighting and turnover.
He will move on to become a senior adviser to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
His exit will close out more than 240 days on the job.
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