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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Late Night Open Thread: Hope Floats (A Book Deal?)

Late Night Open Thread: Hope Floats (A Book Deal?)

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It’s sourced from the Daily Mail, so keep that salt block handy — but, if true, it would be among the least surprising news revelations of the week. What true acolyte doesn’t assume their notes on the Great Man won’t be of vast historical (and *ka-ching* other) interest, someday?

Her job, as far as “we” can tell from outside the Oval Office, was being Daddy’s Dutiful Office Daughter. She stood one step behind the Big Man, nodding when he spoke, mirroring his expression when he looked her way, absorbing the random abuse and the unearned praise with equal imperturbability. When the old man stormed out of the meeting / slammed down the phone, she would linger behind and coo “What he *really* meant to say… “ and pretend she actually believed it. I have the suspicion that Ivanka “promoted” Hicks from her previous job specifically because she saw her as someone young/pliable/attractive enough to keep Daddy happy when Ivanka herself couldn’t be in the room — and not ‘hot’/pliable/desperate enough to start scheming for an upgrade to TrumpWife #4. Olivia Nuzzi, back in 2016:

…Hicks’s job —a sui generis role of outsize importance that she half invents on the fly—involves keeping the media at bay and operating as Trump’s chief gatekeeper. But she’s also summoned in critical moments of confusion to play instigator and score-settler. It was her job to facilitate Trump’s rebuke of the Pope after His Holiness questioned the Christianity of anybody who would build a border wall (kind of Trump’s thing). And it was she who helped malign a female reporter who’d been manhandled by Trump’s campaign manager, immediately claiming she was a lying attention hound. Hicks was also called on this spring to explain why Trump, over the course of three days, advocated four positions on abortion. She tried without success to quell the confusion, declaring, finally, that President Trump would end abortion, simple as that: “He will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn.”…

Hicks’s big job in politics started—not that long ago—with a comparatively tiny gig in Trump Tower. In 2012, two years after she’d graduated from Southern Methodist, Hicks was working for a New York PR shop when she was dispatched to help one of the firm’s major clients: Ivanka Trump. At the time, Trump’s daughter was expanding her fashion line, and Hicks was enlisted to pitch in—and even do a bit of modeling, appearing online in a practical mint-colored dress, black clutch, and heels, all from the Ivanka Trump collection…


… CNN’s source described Hicks as Trump’s “last emotional crutch,” suggesting her comments to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday aggravated a tense situation…

“What happened yesterday just put the nail in the coffin for her,” said April Ryan, a White House correspondent and CNN contributor.

Citing her own sources in the West Wing, Ryan said Hicks had given a tentative resignation after the Porter incident, suggesting hers “was a forced resignation.” …

But there’s always an expiration date for the Daddy’s Office Daughter job (especially for someone not considering the only possible straight-line promotion, from D.O.D. to Trophy Wife). Either the old man gets tired of seeing the same face, has a particularly stressful week, needs an excuse to fire someone who isn’t so hard to expel. Or the D.O.D. absorbs one ego-assault too many and decides, fvck this noise…

From the Washington Post, “Why did Hope Hicks resign? Even the good option looks bad”:

… [A]ccording to a timeline provided by the reporter who broke the story, the New York Times‘s Maggie Haberman, Hicks spent a substantial portion of her tenure — perhaps as much as half of it — considering leaving.

It was tempting to draw a line — as I and others speculated about — between Hicks’s exit and two controversies: Her involvement in the Rob Porter scandal as both communications director and his girlfriend, and her House Intelligence Committee testimony Tuesday in which she admitted to telling white lies for Trump. If nothing else, the timing is suspicious for a resignation to come so close in proximity to each of those two things.

But consider the alternative. The alternative is that someone who has been in the White House for 13 months started thinking about leaving well shy of a year on the staff — and shortly after rising to one of the top jobs. The point: Regardless of which one it was, it doesn’t portend good things or stability in the White House moving forward…

The WaPo also includes a helpful list of potential replacements, including some revolving-door options, speaking of nightmare fuel…

Dan Scavino, former Trump caddy and current Trump twitter mini-me. Mike Meyers can still pull off the Trump-as-Dr.-Evil role, but who’s gonna play Scavino now that Peter Lorre is dead?

Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    John Revolta

    That’s quite a picture. Her expression reminds me of Mark Twain’s “he had the calm confidence of a Christian with four Aces”.

  3. 3.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    The AP report:

    Trump… would at times grow unhappy when [Hope] was not around

    They are trying very hard not to write “Demented dotard is missing his binky”.

  4. 4.

    Sab

    WTF is wrong with the comment section. Machine ate three of mine and froze up in the fourth. No way to run a blog.

    Also, why is anyone quoting Emily Nussbaum on anything political? If you have to correct yourself four times in one day you are not a serious political reporter concerned about accuracy. You are just an attention hound.

    She needs to go back to limiting herself to inept TV reviews in the New Yorker.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Revolta:

    I was thinking the far more clichéd “canary whiskers,” but that Twain line — which I once knew but had completely forgotten — is perfect.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    She stood one step behind the Big Man, nodding when he spoke, mirroring his expression when he looked her way, absorbing the random abuse and the unearned praise with equal imperturbability.

    And she ironed his suit pants—with him in them! Presumably with equal imperturbability.

  11. 11.

    afanasia

    I’ve seldom seen anyone contour their cheekbones so badly. YouTube is full of adorable teenagers who provide step by step demonstrations, so there’s no excuse.

    That said, she looks lovely in that black coat. Like a Russian girl. Are we sure she’s from Connecticut?

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mike J:

    Scroll down through the comments. There are several versions of the photo meme, and they’re all kind of uncanny.

  15. 15.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Drumpf was pissed that she didn’t lie about the lying.

    Heh!

  16. 16.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I figure one major element is that she’s been enduring massive sexual harassment from far more than just Trump. She obviously accepted it as part of the job, but could only take it so long.

    @afanasia:
    My favorite instructs while explaining that men marry pterodactyls.

  17. 17.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Sm*t Cl*de:

    They are trying very hard not to write “Demented dotard is missing his binky”.

    I expect that Gramps is gonna be even more off his rocker now that his Emotional Support Staffer is gone. Batten down the hatches, and get someone to hide the damn football from Grandpa before he pushes the wrong button.

  20. 20.

    Jager

    I’m awake @3:40 in the morning because it’s raining in SoCal.

    What do you think the chances are that after a restful, stress free vacation, Hope finds a ghost writer, gets her book done and ends up on TV?

  21. 21.

    JMG

    Hicks’ diary is US property according to the Presidential Records Act. I suspect it will soon become the property of R. Mueller’s office.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @Percysowner: “Still” assumes that any of them were ever working. I’m not counting grifting as work – only the title written on their door (with gold Sharpie no doubt).

  27. 27.

    Gelfling 545

    “absorbing the random abuse and the unearned praise with equal imperturbability.”
    Sounds like it’s from the job description of a nanny. Other things that might fit: teach him to mind his manners, make sure he’s clean and presentable at all times. Hicks wasn’t up to it. Trump needs Mary Poppins – the original, not the sweet movie version.

  28. 28.

    jc

    Hicks always struck me as Trump’s fluffer, as disgusting an image as that is. He likes having hot chicks around who tell him how great he is.

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