For Sarah Huckabee Sanders, defending the president has become an art form.
The Arkansas native picked up the position of White House press secretary when Sean Spicer
resigned after months of public ridicule.
Since then, Sanders has seemed to become a trusted confidante to Donald Trump, whose
presidency has been plagued by a record amount of staff turnover.
Though Sanders is responsible for defending the president, the pair haven't always on
the same page.
The mother of three has often been misinformed or at odds with Trump, who notoriously dislikes
what he perceives as signs of weakness.
Sanders also had to learn to weather Trump's unpredictable moods, so it's no wonder that
rumors about her plans to leave the administration persist.
Sanders may put up a good front for the press corps, but she doesn't always get along with
the man she's tasked to defend.
Here's the true state of things between Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Donald Trump.
The face
You'd think that Sanders would have a tight personal relationship with her boss, considering
her role in the administration.
But reportedly, the two really aren't that close, with others in his inner circle getting
much more adoration than the press secretary.
While some of Trump's staffers are treated more or less like family, the best he can
reportedly say about Sanders is that she's, quote, "fine".
Of course, Sanders isn't necessarily disliked by Trump, who's notoriously concerned with
aesthetics.
According to CNN, the president has given her props for presentation, saying, "She's
got a great face.
Perfectly round."
Well, that's better than the alternative.
Stormy weather
Presidents and adult film stars didn't used to go together in the news cycle, but Trump
is a different sort of president.
Even two years in, government staffers are still trying to adjust to the new status quo,
and Sanders may have missed the memo.
Reportedly, Trump was quite upset with the way she handled the Stormy Daniels situation,
while that story was still developing.
Daniels' allegations outlined an outlandish extramarital affair that reportedly involved
nondisclosure agreements, thug-like threats, and somehow, Shark Week. Trump denied the
affair and initially claimed to have no knowledge of the $130,000 payoff Daniels claimed she
received in exchange for her silence.
Naturally, Sanders had to field quite a few questions about the payoffs.
In March 2018, she claimed that Daniels' case against Trump went to arbitration, which ended
in the president's favor.
According to CNN, this was the first time the White House admitted Trump was involved
with Daniels in any way, essentially serving as an admission that the nondisclosure agreement
existed.
As you might imagine, Trump was reportedly unhappy with Sanders' statement.
Settling the score
In June 2018, Sanders was turned away from Red Hen, a farm-to-table restaurant in Lexington,
Virginia.
The restaurant's co-owner said the move was a protest towards what they saw as Trump's
"inhumane and unethical" administration.
Though Trump came to Sanders' defense eventually, his response was delayed and notably lukewarm.
He also was allegedly asking people about their private impressions of the press secretary.
To many, this signaled that Sanders was falling out of favor with Trump.
Roasted
During 2018's annual White House Correspondents'.dinner, comedian Michelle Wolf roasted the administration
and made particularly sharp remarks about Sanders, who was sitting at the head table.
"And I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
What's 'Uncle Tom, but for white women who disappoint other white women?'"
It was reported that members of the administration walked out of the dinner after hearing Wolf's
scathing remarks, but Sanders took it gracefully.
But if she thought that was the right move in her boss' eyes, she was wrong.
Apparently, Trump believed staying in attendance was a bad move.
He allegedly thought Sanders should have walked out of the dinner as well, feeling that sitting
and taking the routine was an act of weakness that reflected poorly on him.
On message
You would think that the president's official mouthpiece would be the one person who's always
on-message, but that's not the case.
In fact, the two have a history of contradictory statements.
In March 2018, Sanders denied that Trump knew anything about the payment given to Stormy
Daniels, which Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen claimed was from his own personal funds.
Sanders admitted that she had "conversations with the president" on the subject.
Fast forward to early May and Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed Trump had reimbursed
Cohen for the Daniels payment, meaning he definitely knew the payment existed.
Cohen later confirmed as much in his guilty plea at a criminal trial that stemmed, in
part, from the payoffs.
Sanders claimed that she had no idea Trump knew about the payment in advance, putting
her in a lose-lose situation.
She's either lying to the public, or she's out of the loop.
The long haul
While Sanders has managed to hold onto her job for more than a year, that doesn't mean
she's going to be in the White House through Trump's whole presidency.
But during her tenure, she's become one of the more reliable elements of Trump's White
House, and some close to the president have reportedly gone into panic mode over the thought
of Sanders leaving.
As one former administration official reportedly put it, "Who would want that job?"
Thanks to numerous contradictions and incorrect statements, Sanders' credibility has waned.
The real problem preventing her from sticking around may be the amount of times she's contributed
to embarrassing Trump: a hard thing to come back from.
Though Sanders has publicly claimed she has no plans to leave, it's been reported that
higher-ups have begun asking around about possible replacements.
If history's anything to go by, no one, including Sanders, is going to see the end coming until
it actually happens.
If Sanders does leave, it'll be par for the course of an administration plagued by early
departures.
The only real question is: who will be next?
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