slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

USA TODAY/Tom Krattenmaker, Opinion columnist

Published 8:11 a.m. ET July 30, 2017 | Updated 6:41 p.m. ET July 30, 2017

Sure, take the flashy flatterer who has been singing the president’s praises on cable news and make him White House communications director, never mind the fact he has no communications experience. What could go wrong?

How quickly we learned.

The PR disaster during Anthony Scaramucci’s first week on the job — a profanity-laced diatribe to a national magazine in which the president’s new communications director blasted supposed colleagues and exposed the knife-fight chaos in the White House —tells us something worth remembering:

Communications is not for amateurs. Nor is governing.

As a longtime communications director, I find it unfathomable that “The Mooch” would say to anyone what he said about fellow White House officials Reince Priebus and Stephen Bannon. That he would spew this to The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza without assurances they were off the record is absolutely mind-boggling.

How many c-words, f-bombs and personal insults can you cram into one rant? Scaramucci was apparently bent on finding out. Yet when the backlash hit, all he could muster was the lamest, most clichéd excuse in the book. He blamed it on the writer. “I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter,” he tweeted. “It won’t happen again.”

The Mooch made far graver mistakes than that, and anyone with a minute of communications experience would not have made them. Did he really think he could make such incendiary, news-relevant comments to a prominent journalist and see none of it published? And if it were not a mistake — Trump reportedly loved the Scaramucci quotes — that itself speaks volumes about how this administration operates and miscalculates. It isn't much of a surprise that Priebus is the one who lost his job.

One social media wag joked that Scaramucci was impaired. As Julieanne Smolinski hilariously tweeted, “I mean, who hasn't done a ton of blow and thought, ‘I should call The New Yorker RIGHT NOW.’” Although probably not cocaine, Scaramucci must have been under the influence of something: probably power, or hubris, or anger, or all three. Not to mention a lack of knowing something that any minimally experienced communications person could have told him: Anything you say to a reporter is fair game, unless he or she has explicitly agreed to go off the record.

As shocking as this professional malpractice might be to communicators, it’s what you’d expect when you take the aggressively incompetent approach to communications that the president is taking.

The negative news coverage, the lack of pro-Trump puff pieces, the record-low approval ratings — the president seems to blame all these on the “enemy-of-the-people” news media and the failure of his communications team to control the narrative. If only he had someone smart, and tough, and loyal to the president …

Roll your eyes with me now, communications people. Whether the sector is government, or business, or education, how many times have we seen frustrated leaders blame negative coverage on the messengers rather than the substance of what’s being reported — substance for which they are responsible?

Not to say communicators don’t possess some ability to influence what is publicly said about their organizations. Indeed, there would be no need for us if that were the case. But the t***h remains as it was put to me by a grizzled veteran back when I was a cub reporter: If you’re a public figure and there’s something you don’t want in the newspaper, don’t do it, don’t say it.

Equally tiring is a tendency among some so-called leaders to fall for the flatterer. Tell them they’re the very best. Profess your love (as Scaramucci has repeatedly done). Promise them the stars and moon will be theirs if it’s you telling their story. This is sometimes the way to get yourself hired as a communications director.

It’s a fool who chooses a sycophant for the job. Leaders need to be told the t***h, even if it’s hard to hear, and the smart ones know it.

But we’re all fools if we expected anything other than Lord of the Flies from an administration that has both personified and accelerated the increasingly popular delusion that expertise and experience no longer matter. Really, is it such a surprise to see a real estate mogul and reality TV star possessing zero political knowledge turning communications over to a Wall Street wolf with no relevant experience?

Experience and expertise do count. Professional ethics still matter. And Washington is demonstrating the t***h of this with each train-wreck day.
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A member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, Tom Krattenmaker writes on religion in public life and directs communications at Yale Divinity School. His most recent book is Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower. Follow him on Twitter: @TKrattenmaker. He is a writer and columnist specializing in religion in American public life. An award-winning contributing columnist for USA Today, he also authored 'Onward Christian Athletes,' 'The Evangelicals You Don't Know.'

PaulPisces Loc: San Francisco

You are sharing some really insightful things, Slatts. Bravo!!!

Carol Kelly

Don't trust Scaramucci! Big mistake in my opinion. But no one asked my opinion. So there you have it!

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

I agree, Carol. His estranged wife stated that he is consumed with "blind ambition." I read he texted her from West Virginia on the recent birth of their new child (a second son) in New York City, this past Monday. At the time, he was with President Trump at a Boy Scout Jamboree.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

"Sharing" them is right, Paul. I can't take credit for writing them.

Radiance3

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Professional communication experience like Hillary Clinton's wide lying mouth and corrupt brain, as well as Obama's. Professional experience like Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Pelosi, and Lynch? Professional experience of lies among the MSM, MSNBC, CNN, CBN, and the rests of the liberal lying media. They have most powerful resume's of LIES, DECEPTIONS, and destruction, and the aiding and abetting the Muslims like the recent Pakistani Muslim Awal hired by Wasserman giving full access to the national security of this country. Yet, MSM did not report these huge crimes. Only Foxnews did.

Currently these people are afraid of Gen. Kelly, and Scaramucci. We need them to clean the piranhas in the swamp.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

But as a new character in the next episodes of Trump's White House reality show, he's fantastic! This show has everything; non stop drama, intrigue, slapstick comedy, self romanticism, cops and robbers, even a daily children's show on Twitter!

moldyoldy

The White House’s brash new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, told The New Yorker magazine he’s not ‘trying to suck his own cock,” but it turns out if he wants to learn how he could turn to his own Twitter news feed.
Blake Mitchell, the gay porn star Scaramucci follows on Twitter frequently posts how to lessons, feeding Scaramucci and 92,000 other people a steady diet of steamy gay porn videos, auto-erotic videos of himself, and sexy photos with his handsome young conquests.

http://www.losangelesblade.com/2017/07/30/scaramuccis-gay-porn-star-blake-mitchell-speaks/

Carol Kelly

Don't look for too much help in that swamp draining from Scaramucci.

Radiance3

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I am not yet sure of Scaramucci. But I think Gen. Kelly has proven well documented successful accomplishments.

President Trump despite of the disarray in the GOP Congress, he has done a lot for 6 months.
Nominating great Justice Gorsuch to SC.
70% knock down of violent crimes among the i******s.
The stock market rally highest performance for 17 years.
The unemployment lowest for 17 years.
High increase of our 2.6% GDP, doubled the first quarter.
We have no terrorist attack.
Cleaning up of the illegal terrorist coming to the US.
Good US relationship with Britain, France, the Saudi's, NATO alliance.
Will completely take down ISIS with Russia's cooperation.
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President Trump's immediate challenges:
NK, IRAN, CHINA, RUSSIA, and ISIS were empowered by Obama for 8 years.
These are now the biggest world threats facing our country today.
Senator McCain not loyal to the GOP, and did not support the healthcare bill.

Carol Kelly

Less than three hours later, scaramooch has been fired!

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Yeah, I couldn't help but notice. He never should have been in that position.

Radiance3

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That's what I predicted. His communication style was rude and unfiltered. An effective communication must be delivered at the right time, place, and proper words. His treatment of Priebus was unprofessional.