• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

Biden loses potent aide with departure of press secretary Psaki

Towleroad May 12, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
AFP
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been an able communicator for the Joe Biden administration

Washington (AFP) – She could be playing the charmer, hurling verbal explosives, or just applying spin, but whichever version of Jen Psaki appears at the White House podium, there's little question her departure Friday strips President Joe Biden of an able ally.

Instantly recognizable with her fiery red hair, press secretary Psaki, 43, has been the public face of the Biden administration from the moment the veteran Democrat moved into a White House reluctantly vacated by Donald Trump on January 20, 2021.

Psaki, who always said she didn't expect to keep the high-pressure position more than about a year, is now reportedly on her way to a lucrative host position at MSNBC cable news.

She's leaving just as a brutal midterm elections campaign starts, domestic problems like inflation and illegal immigration pile up around Biden, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine lurches into ever more complex geopolitical territory.

No doubt that Psaki's successor Karine Jean-Pierre —  making history as the first Black and openly gay person in the job — can expect a torrid next few months.

Jean-Pierre, however, will also inherit a presidential press operation rebuilt after the anti-media rantings of the Trump White House.

Under Trump, the famous James S. Brady Briefing Room literally gathered dust while the rapidly changing cast of characters in the administration's press shop often seemed mostly concerned with attacking reporters.

Psaki leaves under a minor ethics cloud, given that she was being headhunted by TV outlets — and negotiating her deal — while continuing in her daily press secretary duties.

But that aside, there has been widespread praise for her professionalism.

Psaki herself stresses the higher calling she sees in the press secretary role, going on Fox News last weekend — her boss' biggest antagonist — to laud the importance of a free media.

“This is the greatest job I've ever had, maybe the greatest job I ever have,” she said.

#psakibombs

With his zest for self-promotion, Trump made the White House press office redundant, preferring to get his message out directly, often by Twitter.

The goal, his aides said, was to bypass a biased media, but Trump's reliance on chaotic informal press gatherings and sometimes garbled or misspelled tweets fueled perceptions that his main aim was to make the presidency his personal reality show.

One press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, never held a single briefing in her nine months on the job. Her successor, Kayleigh McEnany, did hold some briefings, but these often veered into bad-tempered back-and-forths where McEnany made clear she shared the president's loathing for the media.

At the podium, Psaki typically fields queries on everything from Biden's thoughts about abortion to trade tariffs on Canadian lumber, the war in Ukraine, and the ups and downs of the First Family's pets.

Using skills that will transfer well to the TV host's chair, she comes to briefings so well prepared that it's rare for any journalist to trip her.

“One day, people will learn not to come for Psaki, but it is not this day,” quipped @Angry_Staffer, a popular political commentator on Twitter, posting a clip of the press secretary turning the tables this week on a reporter's seemingly tough question with a torrent of counter-arguments.

Psaki's self-confidence comes from deep experience as a Democratic party operative and stints under president Barack Obama as State Department spokeswoman, White House communications director, and election campaign press secretary.

And while her most stinging briefing room retorts are celebrated by online fans in #psakibomb memes, she relies less on gotcha tactics as much as a willingness to engage politely with hostile questioners.

That's a trait which got a thumb's up from no less than Peter Doocy, the Fox News White House correspondent, who has taken up the mantle of Psaki's chief sparring partner.

Some of their on-camera exchanges have been tense, but when Psaki announced she was leaving, Doocy thanked her, saying “you've always been a good sport” and adding that he was “sorry to see you go.”

To which Psaki, triggering laughter through the briefing room, shot back: “Are you?”

Topics: Aaon, towleroad More Posts About: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Jen Psaki, Joe Biden, White House Communications Director

Related Posts
  • US restores handful of wildlife protections axed by Trump
  • Kathy Griffin Says Donald Trump Supporters Are ‘Crazed Over Me’ Years After Gruesome Head Photo Went Viral
  • Funding bill bars US embassies from flying LGBTQ Pride flags
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Mel B will “always be open” when it comes to her sexuality. The Spice Girls singer, 48, who reunited with her bandmates including the group's ex-singer Victoria Beckham for the fashion …Read More »
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Megan Thee Stallion is being sued for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and forcing her cameraman to watch her having lesbian sex. The 29-year-old ‘Savage' rapper faces the salacious claims …Read More »
  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Bennett's life was “changed forever” by his role in ‘Mean Girls'. The 42-year-old actor starred as heartthrob Aaron Samuels in the 2004 cult classic – which followed Lindsay Lohan, Rachel …Read More »
  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass a gift basket after he came out as gay. The 44-year-old NSYNC star revealed the legendary singer showed his support when Lance decided to reveal …Read More »
Previous Post: « It’s Complicated: All Sides Use LGBTQ Rights As Shorthand in Ukraine War; Impact on EU Policy; Like GOP’s Protect-Gays Policy* Only Valid in Mid-East
Next Post: Fabiola Santiago: Wait until students figure out that DeSantis’ Florida and communism are bedfellows! »

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent

  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

    Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

  • Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

    Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

  • JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

    JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

  • Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

    Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

Partner Links

  • Austria Wins Eurovision 2025
    Yesterday I watched some of the Eurovision 2025 finals since it […]
  • iCat
  • Prince William presented the trophy to Crystal Palace at the FA Cup final on Saturday
    We heard last week that Prince Edward was being sent to […]
  • QEII thought Duchess Meghan’s wedding gown was ‘too white’ for a second marriage
    Monday, May 19th is the seventh wedding anniversary of the Duke […]
  • Pope Leo XIV Urged The 'Rejection Of Hatred And Division' At Inaugural Mass
    At his inaugural Mass, Pope Leo XIV urged the "rejection of […]

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Ptown Hacks 2018

Read

  • Travel
  • Film
  • Law – LGBT Rights
  • Columns
  • Specials

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · Log in

×
×