By: Kayla Pasacreta

Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, is suspected to not be on the podium for much longer. Sean Spicer’s day-to-day tasks consisted of giving the daily press briefings from the White House. These briefings often garnered a lot of attention, as Sean Spicer has been known to stop at nothing to defend Trump’s various remarks, no matter how far they stray from the truth. He backed up Trump’s false claim that his inauguration numbers were the largest in history. When trying to be critical of Syria using chemical weapons, Spicer said that even Hitler “did not sink to that level of warfare…Hitler took Jews into the Holocaust Center.” Unsurprisingly, this statement sparked a lot of outrage – it served as an odd humanization of Hitler and downplayed the losses Jews suffered in the Holocaust.  Many have questioned Spicer’s credibility.

However, Spicer’s removal as Press Secretary isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Spicer. Instead, he’s movin’ on up. The White House, according to the Washington Examiner, “is considering a plan to make him the communications boss over the West Wing and the rest of the administration.” This would give Spicer less public attention, but more power and control behind the scenes. This promotion would also squash rumors of tensions between Spicer and Trump. Spicer’s unwavering loyalty to Trump to defend his every statement is certainly paying off.    

The new position should not be a hard adjustment for Spicer, because he has already held the role. Until March, Spicer acted as both Press Secretary and communications director. His return to solely communications will greatly decrease his public image, but this is not a bad thing. Throughout the daily briefings he held there were often moments when his responses significantly varied from President Trump’s public actions, and decreasing public opinion further increased mockery of his role.

In some cases President Trump himself spoke out on the issue, and said, “Sometimes we can disagree with the facts.” Coming from the Commander and Chief, this clear lack of mutual agreement is the clear spark for parodies of the clearly dysfunctional relationship. But the drama does not end there, White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon reportedly sent out a text claiming Spicer was retracting from daily briefings due to weight increases. According to The Atlantic, 

“Neither Spicer nor deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to queries about the change in briefings. Asked why the briefings are now routinely held off-camera, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in a text message, “Sean got fatter,” and did not respond to a follow-up.”

— THE ATLANTIC

Spicer’s new role will be synonymous with that of Mike Dubke, who resigned mid-May. Dubke began his role as communications director in March communications director, but he found himself unable to assimilate into the Trump administration and decided to resign after only holding the position for 3 months.

Sean Spicer and others are currently searching for replacement. Current prospects include:

• Laura Ingraham: conservative radio host (Laura Ingraham Show) and commentator. Reportedly Ingraham has admitted, “"I’m not sure if that’s the role I would pick for myself, but I have a legal background, strategic, you know, political communications planning. I’m not sure the press secretary thing is something I’m dying to do.”

• David Martosko: editor for the Daily Mail.

There is possibility for other applicants to join the process, but as of now these two are the top candidates.

In the coming weeks applicants will be further vetted to assume the coveted role of President Trump’s spokesperson. We have grown accustomed to confusion within this administration, and it is quite possible that the process is complicated. Whether that be Spicer not assuming role as communications director, or adding a new candidate into the search.