I Didn't Even See Her Enter the Building Let Alone Leave

This happened so fast I didn't even have time to blog about it properly (via NPR's Washington DC desk)

Katie Zacharia is "transitioning out" of her role as press secretary, according to a White House official not authorized to speak on the record, marking a stunning turn of events for the spokeswoman who officially started Monday and is out by Friday.

Zacharia's first briefing was Tuesday morning where she faced scrutiny both over her performance – during which she delivered a lengthy and halting opening statement read from notes and called on only three reporters – and her legal credentials.

President Trump on Friday cast doubt on the future of Zacharia, saying he had a discussion with her just before leaving for a campaign rally in Georgia.

The 41-year-old graduate of Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and self-described attorney had stepped in as Trump's chief spokesperson at a moment when his popularity has fallen to record lows and Republicans are scrambling to limit potential losses in the midterm elections.

Much of the scrutiny of Zacharia focused on her credentials as an attorney. While standing with Trump, she was asked by reporters where she passed the bar exam.

"When I moved to China," Zacharia answered, an apparent reference to what she has described on her LinkedIn page as a period of time from 2011 through 2013 spent working for a prominent Beijing-based law firm called Zhon Lun...

Except that there's no record of Zacharia getting certified in China, and currently no record of her passing a bar exam stateside. She has a law degree, but that's different from the bar which allows you to practice law in courts and other legal matters. (It's like me having a degree in journalism, but it doesn't automatically make me a reporter.)

As much as her credentials were under question, what hurt Zacharia as trump's new bald-faced gaslighting liar press secretary was her actual performance her first official day on the job (via Tom Jones with Poynter): 

New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia held her first press briefing on Tuesday.

And how did it go? Put it this way: It could have gone better. Way better. In fact, it couldn’t have gone much worse.

Here’s how you know it’s bad: Insiders are already asking if her days are numbered.

A visibly nervous Zacharia met the media for a mere 14 minutes, looking down for most of it while reading prepared notes. She then called on just three reporters, all from conservative outlets: Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail.

Reactions to the slow-motion train wreck were swift and overwhelmingly negative.

The New York Times’ Shawn McCreesh called Zacharia’s debut “a bumpy one.”

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins called it a “bizarre” press briefing, telling colleague Wolf Blitzer on the air, “And so I’m not really sure, Wolf, that I’ve ever been to a press briefing where there were only three questions in the briefing. It was quite unusual, especially for the first press briefing, which was widely touted by the White House and announced by the president...”

It was bad enough that some are wondering if Zacharia will last even as long as Anthony Scaramucci, who made it only 10 days as White House communications director during Trump’s first term. One anonymous official told MS NOW’s Jake Traylor, “Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast, otherwise she’ll break Scaramucci’s record...”

Ahhh, Anthony Scaramucci. The original tin-plated standard for political career brevity. Jones had him at 10 days but most others are generous about his brief stay as trump's media whipping boy, setting a Scaramucci as a measurement of 11 days in office. Wiki editors are unforgiving in their promptness: they've already added Zacharia as a measurement of 5 days (or .45 a Scaramucci).

Zacharia's week-long tenure brought up serious questions from Jones about why someone as inexperienced as her with public relations was tapped for trump's Mouth of Sauron Putin:

Veteran media journalist Jeremy Barr of The Guardian made the correct point on social media Tuesday: “There were plenty of actual Fox News employees available who could have done this job (rather than an unpaid guest), someone like Emily Compagno for example…”

How true. It seems as if Trump had plenty of people to choose from instead of Zacharia for such an important role.

Did Trump really hire her simply because he liked her appearances on various news networks, particularly Fox News? How did she get the job? Was she vetted at all?

The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum reported Trump made the hire without even talking it over with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Birnbaum wrote, “Senior White House staff, including Wiles, were informed of the decision to hire Zacharia the night before Trump announced it on Friday, the people said. Zacharia had little time to prepare for the briefing, which can be a challenging joust with the press in which a press secretary needs to advocate on behalf of the administration, stick to the facts — sometimes — and improvise quickly when tricky topics arise.”

She looked overwhelmed and underprepared, leading some to wonder why she was rushed to the podium so quickly after being hired. One Trump adviser told CNN, “She should have been doing murder boards for two weeks before going up there.”

It should be noted Zacharia's predecessor Karoline Leavitt at least had experience in the communications rooms of various political offices, not only interning during trump's first term but also for Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Everyone else beforehand - even good old Sean "Spicy" Spicer had years as a communications director for the GOP - were practiced and field-tested to go before hostile press rooms. It's not like trump - and it doesn't seem like his handlers had a say in this one - could would or should go after incompetency as a quality for such a high-profile position. And yet he did, because trump is more obsessed with appearances - young, white, blonde - than anything else anymore.

Zacharia's sudden departure leaves trump's comms unit in serious turmoil, desperate to find a more credible spokesperson who isn't going to drag trump or the Republicans any further into humiliation that trump and the Republicans are already doing to themselves this midterms.

If Zacharia has any good thing happening for her this week, it's that Saturday Night Live will never get around to mocking her the way they did Spicy. (slow clap) Good for you, Katie. Good for you.

The Stressful October

Apologies for the lack of blogging.

Midterms are stressing me out.

Early voting in Florida is coming up.

Get the vote out.

Kick the Republican crooks out of office, please and thank you.

Everything At Stake: 2026 Midterms

If it feels like this election cycle is the most important of our lifetimes AGAIN for the tenth or twelfth time, it's because since 2004 we've been dealing with high stakes for our nation - and for the state of Florida where I live - ever since the Bush the Lesser administration created so many mistakes - the flaws and failures of the War On Terror above all - and mishandled so many disasters - the various corporate scandals from Enron to the mortgage crisis, as well as Hurricane Katrina - that we've been trying to compensate ever since.

It doesn't help that the cyclical nature of the elections themselves - swinging towards liberals and Democrats one term, swinging towards conservative Republicans after a term or two - doesn't allow for any stability in policies, with the partisan nature of the Republicans' destructive agendas causing more chaos and harm than any good. This particular congressional term of 2025-2026 - the mass deportations and civil rights abuses, the refusal to rein in trump's corruption and warmongering - has been partisanship destruction on steroids through inaction and distraction, with far too many aspects of federal - and state - effectiveness falling apart.

If there's anything positive about the 2026 midterm cycle, it's that many signs are pointing to a Democratic "Blue Wave" similar to what happened in 2018... except this time voter anger towards trump and Republicans are higher and more visceral. There are signs that the Democrats can claim enough seats in the Senate this cycle - with Alaska, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas in play - to clinch control of both parts of Congress.

Granted, the polls are still within margin of error and could still provide narrow wins for Republicans to keep the Senate, but most of the polling - not just nationwide but at the district levels - are pointing to Dems claiming the House of Representatives... and that's AFTER all the massive gerrymandering the Republicans inflicted this year after the Supreme Court ruled they could eliminate minority-majority (also Democratic) districts.

Hoping is one thing that likely voters will show: Action is what matters, and actual voter turnout is necessary among the Democratic base - and all others among the No Party Affiliates and disgruntled Republicans - to show up by November 3rd to get their ballots in and make them count.

For Florida, that means showing up to vote in every congressional district for any Democratic candidate on that ballot. That means showing up to vote for the Democratic Senate candidate statewide. That means showing up to vote out the overlong Republican dominance at the state legislative levels as well as putting Democrats back into the governor's office along with the other executive offices up for vote.

The state attorney general election is vital this year for Democrats to win because of the current scandals surrounding the DeSantis regime, especially the Hope Florida theft of $10 million earmarked for sick kids. If the Republicans win the state AG office, that Republican - James Uthmeier, who has connections to that scandal! - will squash any further investigation or criminal charges aimed at those who stole money from sick kids, and perpetuate all future GOP scandals as the state Republicans know they will get away with all of it. Holding these crooks accountable is a key reason to show up and vote this midterms for Democrats. This is why voting for Jose Javier Rodriguez could arguably be the most important choice on your state ballot.

For the governor's office itself, the Democratic candidate is David Jolly a one-time Republican who quit that party of his own volition during the first trump regime, and has taken the role of the centrist candidate trying to appeal to both Dems and NPA/angry Republican voters. There is a risk though, as previous election attempts of centrist candidates (sigh, Crist) did not boost general election Dem turnout. This year is different due to the overall anger by the electorate, one hopes. It matters to elect Jolly because the Republican on the ballot Byron Donalds is an openly MAGA wingnut who will impose trumpian chaos at the state level.

For the U.S. Senate race, the Democratic primary voters pulled off an upset going with Angie Nixon, an openly avowed progressive who impressed the base with effective ground campaigning and an aggressive anti-trump message. The polling has Nixon neck-and-neck to incumbent Ashley Moody, who has close ties to the DeSantis crime family and involvement in the Hope Florida scandal... and thus utterly deserves to get kicked out by Florida voters angry by all the GOP corruption. Voting FOR Nixon - relax, this is the GOOD Nixon - would also contribute to the Democrats' chances of gaining control of the Senate.

There's also Democrat Annette Taddeo running for the Chief Financial Officer position, and Joey Mendoza Atkins for Commissioner of Agriculture. Voting for the Democratic candidates for Congress, state House, and state Senate depending on your district matters a lot as well, please and thank you.

Florida also has a judicial retention vote, and up for consideration this year is Carlos Muniz, appointed to the seat in 2019 by DeSantis, which should be a huge mark against Muniz for starters. The Orlando Sentinel describes Muniz as one of the most partisan justices on the state bench, who ruled on enforcing a strict abortion ban and supported blatant gerrymandered maps. Voting NO on Muniz will hold him accountable for those decisions. One other reason to vote for Jolly as governor by the by is to end the ongoing stacking of state judgeships by all the Republican governors we've had for 20-plus years: our court system is filled with Far Right partisans who'll rule in favor of their elites instead of serving the needs of the public.

Last thing on the Florida ballots will be three amendments: Amendment One is to increase the amount of money that may be retained in the budget stabilization fund (aka the Rainy Day emergency bank), and limits on how the money gets transferred; Amendment Two is to exempt farm equipment or tools from property taxes if the property is listed for agricultural needs; and Amendment Three is an expanded homestead exemption rate a nuclear bomb wiping out millions from any county and city government's revenues raised from property taxes.

I've already made my position on Amendment Three clear: raising the exemption rates to such extremes would ruin many services provided at the city and county levels, such as road maintenance, clean water supply and sewage handling, public parks, libraries, fire rescue, law enforcement, and more. Public hospitals and health services could lose $323 million over three years. Counties could lose up to $29.7 BILLION over five years (almost 65 percent of their revenues) and cities losing up to $12 BILLION (around 26 percent of their revenues) in that same span. 

For anyone thinking they're going to save between $600 to $1200 on their annual taxes with this amendment, consider the costs of everything else in your life going up either by counties/cities enacting more fees (if the state will even let them!) or the costs of suddenly dealing with dirty water, higher utility bills, 2000 potholes between your house and work, and your kids suddenly having no safe parks or open museums to entertain them. That $1200 you're saving from one column in your balance sheet is going to get eaten up by the other costs. It's not worth the loss of public services, and I am not saying this as an employee of a city public library I'm saying this as a homeowner who is okay with paying my taxes as a civic duty. For the love of GOD, vote NO on Three.

As for Amendment One, there's no evidence at the moment that the budget stabilization fund needs more money - it's at its highest amount (9.3 percent) in years, having recovered from the fiscal horrors of 2008 - and this move feels like a power grab by the Republicans in the state legislature. I'm thinking of voting NO on One. 

Amendment Two does address the costs of managing farms here in the state, removing some of the fiscal burdens allowing our local agribusinesses to afford equipment and other supplies. Florida needs to maintain local agriculture at least to ensure food security at this level, so this would help our communities overall. It may cut into the property taxes for our counties, but not at the extremes that Amendment Three does. I would vote YES on Two.

That all said: VOTING MATTERS, FLORIDA. Especially during a midterms that trump and his lackeys are threatening to take away our votes by hook or crook. If you're worried about your county precinct being at risk from illegal federal raids, plan ahead and do Early Voting which happens October 19th through November 1st. Check your county's Elections website to find out locations - they tend to be in centralized locations that ICE / DHS / FBI aren't keen to hit since white voters will be there - and plan to go early mornings or late afternoons depending on your work schedules.

Vote the Republican crooks out, Florida. Vote FOR David Jolly, Jose Javier Rodriguez, Angie Nixon, and every Democrat on the ballots. Vote NO on Three above all. 

PLEASE VOTE.