Sean Spicer Knows It’s Never Too Early to Promote Your Book

Hilary Weaver
Updated

On Thursday night, Sean Spicer, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Caitlyn Jenner all walked into the Plaza Hotel. No, this is not a Trump-era word jumble. It’s the moment that kicked off the awards gala thrown by the World Values Network, which advocates for “universal Jewish values,” as well as Israel. All three were honorees at the Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala. Spicer, who arrived on the step-and-repeat looking jovial and lighter than his days behind the White House podium, gave the reporters the better part of eight minutes of his time, seemingly happier than ever to be receiving journalists’ attention.

“What do you think about Omarosa [Manigault Newman] doing all this press?,” we wanted to know, hoping for a juicy hint that Spicer had tuned in to the Celebrity Big Brother drama.

“I think you should read my book,” he said with a glint in his eye. “I think—look. I wish Omarosa the best, and I hope she finds a purpose. But I think Sarah [Huckabee Sanders] said it best. She’s moved on, and I think that’s probably best for the administration, and I hope she finds something meaningful to do.”

Spicer also told reporters that he feels 10 years younger after leaving the White House, but he’s been very busy. Because, by the way, he’s got that book, reportedly called The Briefing, coming out on July 23. Don’t forget. “I’ve been very active traveling and giving speeches, doing some consulting . . . It’s much less stressful, and it’s a lot more enjoyable.”

Spicer and Mnuchin, as representatives of a presidential administration that’s generally pro-Israel, were somewhat expected guests at the event (even if both maybe should have learned to avoid a camera once in a while). But Jenner, a longtime Republican, faced some backlash when she was announced as an honoree at the event hosted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who once praised Steve Bannon as a “stalwart friend of the Jewish State.” There’s even a term used by those who believe Israel is trumping up its L.G.B.T.Q. bona fides in order to cover up more difficult issues with Palestine: “pinkwashing”.

Jenner, who praised the event and Shmuley during her speech, spoke to V.F on the red carpet.

“Right from the beginning, starting with Diane Sawyer and then Vanity Fair, I have really tried to bring this issue forward of equality. It’s so important, first of all, of the L, the B, the G, and the T—the T is the most misunderstood, the most underfunded . . . I’ve worked with [U.N. Ambassador] Nikki Haley at the U.N. We certainly have major issues right here in the United States when it comes to trans rights and trans equality, but on a global scale, it’s horrifying.”

Though Jenner posed on the red carpet with Spicer, Mnuchin, and—somehow added to the mix—Dr. Oz, she repeated her criticism of the Trump administration, even having voted for him. “[I am] very disappointed with this current administration . . . as far as trans issues, this administration has been the worst ever. They’ve set our community back 20 years.”

Spicer, who’s admitted his own regrets about supporting Trump, responded to a question about whether he missed the White House with a simple “no.” For anything more detailed, apparently, you’re gonna have to read the book.

14 White House Scandals We Loved and Lost in 2017

The first truth-bending claim of the Trump administration came just a day after the inauguration, when Sean Spicer introduced himself to the world by claiming that Trump’s inauguration had drawn the largest audience ever, despite several photos showing a rather sparse crowd. Within a month, Spicer, once a well-respected journeyman flack in D.C. media circles, had cemented his reputation as Trump’s own Baghdad Bob.
Less than two weeks after he was inaugurated, Trump bungled a major campaign promise when he signed an executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The order sparked protests across the country and threw border control into chaos as it struggled to implement . . . something. Federal courts immediately blocked the ban, declaring that it was an unconstitutional religious test meant to discriminate against Muslims, and pointed to Trump’s own comments as proof. The ban continues to wind its way through federal court, continually hamstrung thanks to the way Trump and then adviser Steve Bannon mangled its initial rollout.
Back when she was still known as Trump’s maternal handler, the White House adviser drew scrutiny for kneeling on an Oval Office couch as casually as if she owned the place (she does not). She told the press that she had done so to snap a photo of Trump and a group of visiting presidents of H.C.B.U.s, and that it seemed to be the best angle.
The lawsuit against Trump University was the perfect allegory for a Trump presidency: the real-estate billionaire stood accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from regular folks, promising that his financial know-how would make them wealthy overnight, and then leaving them with nothing. Back in March, Trump settled three separate lawsuits—two class-action suits and a fraud case—against the university for $25 million.
Among a White House filled with apocalyptic blowhards, stoic generals, and fast-talking fame-seekers, Jared Kushner , an overweening real-estate manager with disproportionate power over his father-in-law, stood out by trying to avoid the spotlight. One could wax poetic about how the Harvard legacy student assumed responsibility for tasks in which he had little experience: overhauling government IT, creating peace in the Middle East, and tackling the opioid epidemic, to name a few. But a picture, as always, speaks a thousand words—specifically that picture of Jared in Iraq, practicing boat-shoes diplomacy in a war zone.
Prior to James Comey’s firing, those who believed that his eleventh-hour letter regarding her e-mails cost Hillary Clinton the election saw this image as a clear sign that he supported Trump in all things MAGA. Funny how far a little context can go: Comey’s close friend Benjamin Wittes told The New York Times that in an attempt to avoid said photo, the 6-foot-8 Comey attempted to blend in with the blue curtains at the back of the room, futilely hoping that Trump would not spot him.
If people obsessed over the size of Trump’s hands, they were almost equally fixated by Melania’s—specifically, why they were seldom anywhere near those of her husband, or why they slapped his away, or what it meant that, when they did come into contact with the president’s diminutive mitts, they instinctively clenched into fists.
Trump’s dance of loathing-turned-love-turned-loathing with Morning Joe took a remarkably stupid turn in June, when he decided to bash “Low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe” for criticizing him on their show. Over the course of their feud, Trump at various points suggested Scarborough murdered an intern, and accused Brzezinski of committing an equally heinous crime in his eyes: getting a face-lift.
When Donald Trump chooses to defend white supremacists or taunt North Korean leadership before a crowd, onlookers draw a small measure of comfort from chief of staff John Kelly’s crestfallen reactions, reading them as a sign that perhaps someone with some level of sanity holds a modicum of influence over the president. (Kelly, however, insists that he just has the military equivalent of resting bitch face.)
The law requires that the Secret Service provide protection to the president and vice president’s immediate family, but the law was perhaps unprepared for the globetrotting Trump clan, which consists of one wife, five children, three children-in-law, and eight grandchildren. To complicate matters, Melania Trump adamantly refused to leave Trump Tower for the first several months of the presidency, keeping 11-year-old Barron Trump with her. (Nor did it help that Trump insisted on dragging his coterie to his various properties for golf weekends, forcing the Secret Service to do work overtime.) In August it was reported that the Secret Service would exceed its overtime-pay caps due to the sheer number of man-hours necessary to fulfill their duties.
It is a fairly well-known fact that staring directly at a solar eclipse will fry your retinas, and on the eve of the 2017 eclipse, scientists made sure Americans were prepared, cautioning the general public to wear special glasses or to construct a pinhole viewer. But the president, who is not the biggest fan of scientists, ignored their warnings, choosing instead to gaze directly at the one thing that dared to challenge his position as the star around which everything revolves.
Of course Melania Trump, former model and Upper East Side inhabitant, would think nothing of wearing stiletto heels while preparing to visit a hurricane disaster zone. But after the Internet slammed her for her tone-deaf fashion faux pas, a practice that goes back centuries, she emerged from Air Force One just hours later wearing a brand-new pair of white sneakers and what appeared to be a men’s button-up shirt.
North Korea’s “three generations of punishment” law dictates that if a citizen commits a crime, they and their entire family will be sent to prison camps, and the next two generations of children will remain there. Somewhat similarly, Donald Trump declared that Steph Curry’s refusal to attend a White House ceremony acknowledging the Golden State Warriors N.B.A. Championship meant that the entire team’s invite was withdrawn. (When N.F.L. player Tom Brady’s turn came for a White House invite, he sidestepped controversy by claiming an illness in the family.)
Of all the Trump administration officials who habitually use taxpayer dollars to fund their private jet travel, Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services secretary, was the only one let go because of it. Granted, his plane use was egregious compared to the other Cabinet members being investigated: whereas Ryan Zinke, Steve Mnuchin, and Scott Pruitt racked up a few thousand dollars in dubious flights to their homes and to the occasional donor party, Price spent $400,0000 on flights to places like Nashville (where his son lives), Philadelphia (which is less than a two-hour train ride from D.C.), and St. Simons, a private island in Georgia where he and his wife happen to own a million-dollar property. Such graft somehow infuriated Trump, who told reporters that he was “not happy” with Price’s plane profligacy.