In the latest installment of the “1600: It’s Only A Matter of Time” saga, it’s been announced that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has tendered her resignation, effective at the end of the month.
And while you won’t catch me weeping over the loss of yet another non-cabinet member in this administration’s continuous revolving door of senior staff, for me it has been significant (and a bit shocking, if I’m honest) to cite the dichotomy that seems to have made Sanders quite villainous, while at the same time an empowered and effective working mother in a dodgy, demoralizing and dangerous business dominated by men.
For starters, inheriting the position after the abrupt departure of one of the most unhinged press secretaries in modern history, Sarah Sanders came to the job (marred by low public expectations of the holder) far more poised and composed than that of her predecessor. Still, for every direct retort, unyielding talking point or defensive strategy of the president and his administration that she laid out to the press, Sanders was often categorized and vilified for being aggressive, combative and an antagonist.
To be fair, as mouthpieces for an unpopular president, both she and Spicer appeared equally maligned in the role, but I have to be objective in that I don’t believe the attacks on Sanders would’ve been nearly as harsh (her physical appears tended to be a commonly criticized refrain and an often brutal caricature) if she were not a woman.
That however, is where my defense of the former Press Secretary ends. In a lot of ways, I do believe she constructed the pyre that she will now lay on for all posterity. For years, I watched Sanders willfully push and agenda of misinformation with a straight face, only to quietly (if at all) make corrections after evidence was revealed of her fabrications (which she’s even cited as a slip of the tongue). Sanders tirelessly supported the agenda to bar top media outlets from press briefings and she regularly found herself in vocal defense of the indefensible. But, I suppose that when in the employ of a commander-in-chief who insinuates over social media that accuracy is optional, it stands to reason that a pocket-sized morality could be easily stored away the moment one stepped foot on the job site.
The irony for me though has been that Sarah Sanders regularly took up the mantle to berate public media for the same types of attacks and tearing down she claims was done to her that her boss and sitting knee-jerk narcissist has unapologetically done to any woman not willing to fall in line with his touchy (both thin-skinned and assaulting), gas lighting, ill-informed, self important ways. Now, if during her tenure Sanders saw no problem with any of that and only desired to amplify the incendiary musings of a polarizing president, then I’d say she’s done her job effectively.
With resignation in hand, she is now free to take her talents back to Arkansas.
Godspeed.
