Sean Spicer is from New England, someone we might refer to as a ‘normal American.’ But, as anyone would, Spicer seemed amazed and humbled by the privilege of working in the White House for the President of the United States. Lofty positions often come from humble beginnings.
“I watched my parents struggle financially,” Spicer said. You could feel there was something going on in the background. There were school trips we couldn’t afford to take. We’d planned a family vacation but dad ended up working.”
He said his parents hid things well but never missed a soccer game or baseball game. “They had a lot of love and character. If that is a form of wealth, then my parents were amazingly wealthy. I was always very clear about how we grew up.”
Spicer said he grew up near families with all the accessories of monetary wealth but said, “Looking back, it’s all about the time we spend with our kids. Experiences they won’t be able to get anywhere else.”
“That’s what we try to instill in our kids,” Spicer said. “I hope they remember when we went camping or fishing. The long and short of it is, we grew up very middle class. My mom was a homemaker for a long while, and my father sold boats.”
Spicer’s grandmother told him all good boys in Rhode Island went to Portsmouth Abbey. “I was a good kid, so I figured that’s where I’d go. It’s a Benedictine boarding and day school. I had no idea what it cost; I was a kid. My mother went to work at Brown. She managed the East Asian programming office.”
His father sold boats until that business hit the skids. Then he sold insurance. “We had what could be called a year-to-year existence,” Spicer explained.
Spicer served as assistant United States trade representative for media and public affairs in the George W. Bush administration. One year he took on the role of the Easter Bunny to entertain children at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
“That costume had been around since Kennedy,” Spicer explained. “If you’re the first one in the morning to use it, it doesn’t stink. I think you can’t be afraid to have fun. If you can’t laugh at yourself, what’s the point? I’ve been Santa Claus. I have an Elmo costume. I used it when my kids were younger. I’m not sure where it is now.”
Next to the Superman outfit?
Spicer is the host of “Spicer&Co” on Newsmax. He thinks his show is the only one on television that features people with skin in the game. People who have been inside the thing they’re talking about.
“I can literally look at any situation and quickly determine what was going on and why this situation was happening,” Spicer said. “Lindsay Keith has worked with technology. She’s worked the Republican convention. We have conversations with our guests that can expand on the conversation. We have fun and have conversations.”
Spicer said they play Company Quiz on Friday, a fun way to end the week.
“We’ll talk about segments we’ve done that week, about people who have been on the panel. It’s a fun way for people to wind down.”
Before his show on Newsmax in 2020, Spicer said he’d known Newsmax CEO and majority owner Chris Ruddy for a while.
“He had been at Newsmax when I left the White House,” Spicer said. “We had a conversation, and Chris said there’d be some changes in the lineup. He was building shows at that point. I was involved in some of the early growth of the channel.”
For his show, Spicer said you have to prepare and determine what you’re going to ask.
“On the flip side of that, at the White House, I had to figure out how I was going to respond to press questions. It’s a different dynamic. I’d rather be on offense than defense.”
Spicer is happy with his show. He said he wakes up every day, scans the news, and calls guests he’d like to talk with on the show. Other times, he’ll call someone to get some perspective on a story. Some of my best questions come from listening to the guest talking. You just said X; what about Y? Some of the best stuff comes out of that.
“I do that to get more background on a story so I can explain it further,” Spicer said. “I’m a news and political junky. They’re both in my wheelhouse.
I have a lot of phone numbers in my Rolodex. Between my time at the White House and on Capitol Hill, I ended up knowing a lot of people.”
If you’ve ever watched SNL parody Spicer, you probably experienced guttural laughter. McCarthy portrayed Spicer as an angry, vindictive, and aggressive man behind a mobile podium.
“I was never angry at Melissa McCarthy,” Spicer insists. “She was playing a part, and I get that. I thought the first one was funny. Then it started to get personal. She became angry and visceral. I’ve learned to not take myself so seriously. But I know how to give as well as I take.”
Spicer said he doesn’t speak negatively of anyone, particularly his former employers.
“If you look back throughout my career, I don’t think you can find a negative thing. If you can’t be trusted as a friend, colleague, family member, what good are you? You’ve got to be trustworthy. If there’s one thing somebody could say about me, it’s that I’m loyal.”
Some might say he’s loyal to a fault. To those watching on television, Donald Trump subjected Spicer to public and private humiliations that would have made any normal human being quit on the spot. Spicer didn’t quit.
“People say, ‘Oh, you’ll never turn on Trump,” Spicer said. “I don’t believe you can go work with someone who has shared strategy and confidence, and the second you leave, you’re going to tell stories about them.”
Spicer said, “It’s all about loyalty, even if you feel something else. That’s the point of a press secretary or communications officer.”
“There’s plenty of times I’ve thought someone was a jerk or couldn’t believe they said this or that,” Spicer said. “But I’m not going to betray their trust.
If I’m hired by someone, I’m going to give them the best counsel possible. I’ll say this is what I think you should do or shouldn’t do. It doesn’t always mean I agree with a policy. My goal is to try to get them in the best possible position. My job is to be their spokesperson, not convey my own beliefs.”
He’s written several books, but publishers were asking him early after his departure from the White House to write a tell-all book.
“I wanted some record of what I actually believed. They wanted something salacious, and I wouldn’t do that,” Spicer said. “When the book was being auctioned, one of the literary agents I spoke with was telling me about all the projects he’d worked on. He didn’t want me to go about it with any dignity. I refused and left a lot of money on the table. People couldn’t believe it. I don’t think it’s worth a couple of hundred grand to sell your integrity. You lose your integrity when you sell those people out.”
Spicer said at the end of the day, as a press secretary, you’re not the principal person in the situation.
“At the same time, you’re not a bump on a log,” he said. “Your name isn’t on the door. I’ll give you the best possible advice. I might say I agree with you 100 percent, 50 percent, or not at all. My job is to help them, not say, ‘don’t do that.’ I give my honest opinion, and that doesn’t always go over well.”
To Spicer, it’s all about doing the job you’re hired to do.
“Imagine you’re a batter for the Red Sox. Cora calls for a bunt, but you think, ‘I can hit this guy.’ At the end of the day, you’re the player; he’s the coach. You can make your case, but the call is his. Not every profession has that equivalency, but the concept is the same.
When the time came for Spicer to leave the White House and the tumultuous Trump, he saw the writing on the wall.
“I’ll walk you through what happened,” Spicer said. “Being White House press secretary will unequivocally go down as one of the greatest honors in my life.
At three different times, I’d been press secretary and communications director. There were times I assumed both roles. People need to understand that those are two separate jobs.”
In July of 2016, President Trump decided to name Anthony Scaramucci the White House communications director. So it’s safe to say Spicer knew it wasn’t going to end well.
“I’d known Anthony,” Spicer said. “He’s highly successful, but he’d never worked in government, media, or communications. I know what goes into these roles. I knew it wasn’t going to go well, and I was going to be the one blamed for that.”
So this was the perfect time for Spicer to go to the president. The lights were flashing, and he saw his off-ramp. So this was the time to take the exit.
“I told the president it was the right time for a reset,” Spicer explained. “You wanted Anthony to be your communications director. You should get a new press secretary as well. President Trump said, ‘No.’ He was generous to me, but it was the perfect time. It made sense to step down right then. God gives you off ramps. God might well have said, ‘Sean, here’s your off-ramp because there is a crash ahead. I got off on my own terms.’”
Spicer didn’t take Scaramucci’s hiring personally. “I guess I was shocked it only lasted ten days, but I knew it wasn’t going to last.”
Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.
