The Daily Signal - Sean Spicer Blasts Jen Psaki's Farewell Publicity Tour: 'Unethical and Wrong'

Episode Date: May 9, 2022

Jen Psaki's last day as White House press secretary will be this Friday, May 13. She's expected to move next to a high-profile role at MSNBC, according to Axios, which reported April 1 "the deal is nearly final" even though no contract has been signed. "I'm glad that she's found a soft landing," says Sean Spicer, who served as President Donald Trump's first press secretary. "But you can't then continue to serve. You can't sit at that podium knowing that your future colleagues are sitting there. ... I mean, this is so unethical and wrong." For the ethically challenged Biden administration, perhaps it's no big deal. But Spicer calls the decision "unprecedented." Having waited more than two years before becoming host of "Spicer & Co." on Newsmax, Spicer knows what it's like to go from the White House briefing room to the newsroom. He joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about his approach to covering the news, Newsmax's growth, and more. Listen to the full interview or read an abridged version at DailySignal.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, May 9th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rob Blewey. On today's show, I talk with Sean Spicer, host of Spicer & Company on Newsmax, an author of the book, Radical Nation. We also read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about the oldest living military battlefield nurse. Before we get to today's show, we want to tell you about the most popular resource on the Heritage Foundation website, The Guide to the Constitution. More than 100 scholars have contributed to create a a unique line-by-line analysis of our Constitution. The guide is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution

as envisioned by the framers and as applied in contemporary law. There has never been a more important time to have an understanding of our founding document. So, if you want to learn more about the Constitution, go ahead and visit heritage.org slash constitution or simply search for the Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Now stay tuned for Rob's conversation with Sean Spicer. We are joined on The Daily Signal today by Sean Spicer, host of Spicer and Company on Newsmax, an author of the book, Radical Nation. Sean, it's good to have you back on the show.

Yeah, it's good to see you again. Great to see you. And let me ask you this just to start off. It is so important, I think, in today's media landscape, that we have alternatives to the corrupt corporate media. And you're doing that each and every day. Tell us about your approach to the news and what you bring to your show. It's not just my show. I mean, I think all of Newsmax,

I mean, it's a two-fold question. I think we cover issues that I think people are talking about. You know, and it's funny. Literally those conversations, and we try to do it every night on Spicerone Company, which is what I think people are having that conversation, what's concerning them, inflation, immigration, things are going on in their kids' schools, and have those discussions with leading experts, with parents, with educators, or immigration experts, border authorities, economists, and break them down.

But they're those conversations and segments that you're not seeing, frankly, on other stations. And so it's funny, we don't, I think we get tagged with a lot of pejoratives from the mainstream media. But if you watch the station and watch the segments that we do, I think we just, we frankly cover issues that aren't getting covered. But we bring on guests from all sides. We allow people to have their say. It's just that I think the way that the left has decided to control the narrative, they don't like the idea of anybody injecting a story or an idea into the bloodstream that they don't approve of. Well, taking a step back then, because we appreciate what you do on a day-to-day basis, but zooming out and looking at the media landscape more broadly, why is it important to have a diversity of sources of information for people? You've not only now that you're in front of the camera, but even when you were behind the camera.

Well, it's interesting. It's funny. I was going, I'm a bit of a political hoarder. My wife would use some other words. But I was going through some stuff the other day, sorting out some of the boxes that I've kept. And one of the interesting things was an article I came across through my tenure at the White House that said, of all the things that Spicer did as 10 years during his 10 years press secretary was diversify the press briefing. And what he meant by that was for so long, and Jen Saki's gone back to this, which is you call on the front rows, which is the the wire services, the Washington Post, New York Times, and the big three networks, right? I looked at it like, you know what, there's local TV, local media, there's conservative outlets, there's financial outlets, there's foreign media, there are niche media outlets that equally represented constituency that has a question or a concern that should get asked. And again, I think that, so to the part of your question, it's important because I think for too long, There was this idea that a group of folks in the media, right, the Washington Post, the Associated press and the big three networks controlled what you saw, read and heard.

They controlled the narrative. If it wasn't on their networks, if it wasn't on their paper, it didn't exist. It wasn't a problem. And so the diversity and thought, and I'm a big, all of the above guy, right? So I'm at Newsmax. I think we do a great job of doing that, but if you want to read Breitbart or the Daily Call or whatever. That's great. I think the more, the merrier, right? Because the more people can get their

information from different places and see something, that's great. The thing that I find is fascinating is this is truly like capitalism at work. When I started at Newsmax, you know, we had thousands of people watching every night. Now we're in the hundreds of thousands. And Newsmax has, while we're on all of the major carriers, Fios and Comcast and, you know, dish and directs. We don't have the same reach as a CNN right now. We're growing all the time. But we're competing with them. Two years in, I mean, my show just crossed its two-year threshold.

And that tells you that Americans are searching out a place like Newsmax and saying, I want to watch this show. I like what I see. And it's 90% of the time when I talk to people, it's word of mouth. I heard it from a friend. I heard it from a family member. Somebody that lives down the street from me, you know, watch your show and turned me on to it. And I think that's what's so fascinating about Newsmax.

It's not this huge advertising budget that's out there with billboards and whatever. It's people, person to person, through social media, through email, through knocking on the door, through conversations they're having at work or at home, they're turning people onto it. And that's what I think is great right now. And I think it's driving the mainstream media nuts that they don't have the stranglehold on the narrative anymore. I want to come back to that in just a moment, but I do want to say that as somebody who pays attention to the numbers and the data,

what you're saying is absolutely true. And that's why we have decided that it's important to have Heritage Foundation experts on your show and other shows on Newsmax, because that is where the organic growth is. That's where people are turning increasingly to get their news. Yeah. And we love having them on because they are experts. And some of the best in their fields, I mean, Hans, who handles all the election integrity, he's the best in the business, right? I mean, there are folks that you guys have who have for decades been at the forefront of their,

specific area. And so when we want to break down something, those are the go-to people to talk about, you know, whether it's China or the economy or election integrity, right? These are the go-to people who have been following it, not for a year or two, just got turned on to it. For years, in some cases, decades, have been the leaders, the thought leaders in this. And are the people who aren't just writing about it who are where policymakers are then turning to and saying, okay, how do we fix this?

So we love having them on, not just because they're experts, but because we're ahead of the curve. We want our viewers to be like, hey, this is where the ball's going to bounce to. Yes, yeah. Well, now, you have that organic growth, but I also feel like there is, particularly with the big media conglomerates, an effort not only maybe on a day-to-day basis to try to take shots at Newsmax, but also, why isn't there more interest in expanding Newsmax to other platforms? I mean, is there a concerted effort on their part to keep you down? Oh, I don't think, I mean, look, the interesting thing I think that's fascinating about Newsmax is that we're the fourth largest news channel out there right now. But we're the only one that you don't need a cable subscription.

If you literally have a smartphone or the internet, you can go to newsmax.com, you can go to YouTube, watch it for free. I've been in Florida with my family, and I have countless people come up to me and say, hey, I cut the cord. I don't have cable anymore. I watch you on Roku or Samsung TV or Vizzi or whatever it is. And you're the only ones. So literally, if you don't have cable or you just have a smartphone and you're walking around or you just have a computer or whatever, as long as you have an internet connection, you've got access to Newsmax, live television, the same as you would if you had cable. And again, you know, if you have cable, that's great. You can go to DirecTV or DISH or Fios or wherever and get us

the same way too. But it's really unique because that's where we're able to sort of diversify and break into an audience that a CNN or an MSNBC or even a Fox can't. That's outstanding, particularly at a time when CNN Plus seems to be failing miserably. Well, literally, as I was coming down in the elevator to this, there is a variety, one of the trade publications in the entertainment industry put out saying that they're pulling the plug on CNN Plus. I mean, think about that. This thing has lasted, you know, literally days and they're already pulling the plug. That tells you everything.

Now, I'm shocked that people don't want to know what books just. Jake Tapper's reading, but, you know, that tells you everything you need to know about. Again, going back to capitalism, apparently not a lot of people were that interested. That's true. That's true. I think one of the things that you're also doing is helping to restore trust in media, and that is a big challenge because we have a situation now in our country where so many people have decided that they can't trust the traditional sources. So what are the steps that go into your show day to day in terms of identifying those guests and making sure that you are, delivering truthful information to your audience.

So I think part of it is, you know, we have multiple calls where we're looking at, you know, what's Congress covering, what's breaking in terms of issues or what's coming up. So we'll look ahead and say, hey, this issue is getting to be a big deal. There's a report coming out. We get pitched a lot. You know, sometimes there's a report coming out from Heritage and someone will reach out and say, we've got this report that's going to be coming out on immigration or the economy. we'll look at legislation that's coming down the pike.

So there's a combination of those kind of things. We'll look at issues. And then the same thing with guests. We'll look and say, okay, who's the big get that we want? Or who's somebody, you know, we had the other day just some parents on from Florida. We had a couple parents on from New Jersey who were embroiled in this whole thing where New Jersey was mandating some new courses. And we wanted to hear from actual parents and said, what's it like up there? two of them were former educators that are taught in the system.

What would you have, you know, would you have actually taught this curriculum? So the idea sometimes is to have those conversations that, again, people would probably be having around their dinner table at night and break it down in a way that people go, okay, now I get it. And so, and it's also, to your point about the facts, is it's, I mean, that's where the research comes in. So it's looking at, and I think that's what, frankly, makes me somewhat unique as a host, is having worked on Capitol Hill, been in the military, served at the White House, worked on campaigns and at the the National Party, is that there's a lot of times where I can say, no, that's actually not how it works. And so we can break down a story and say, you know, while it's being this report in the

Washington Post this way, the reality is it doesn't work like this, or it'll never happen like that, either politically or just in terms of how government operates. And I think that's a unique thing that we bring. And not even the Washington Post, apparently Pierce Morgan. But you know, look at that issue today, right? The idea that, and I give Taylor Budowitz, the president's

comm staffer, tremendous credit for doing what most press staffers should always be doing, which is recording that interview. Because think about it, I mean, you saw that happen and it plays into this narrative, oh, Trump got angry and stormed off. And then it's like, nope, here's the tape. And here's

how it was edited and deceptively. to make the president look bad. So I'm glad he did it. I'm glad he released it. And you had NBC News actually having to admit, well, you know, gosh, no, that's not how it went down. And when you've got NBC News siding with President Trump, you know that something's really amiss. Yeah. Speaking of NBC and MSNBC, I've seen you tweet about this.

Yeah. Jen Socky, who's promoting her future employer while serving in the White House. Right. This is unprecedented. And with all due respect, look, I'm glad Jen's got a new job. It's a tough job being press secretary. I wish her all the best.

I'm glad that she's found a soft landing, and I think that that's great. And I, honest to God, mean it, she was very helpful to me, Josh Ernest and her when I was transitioning her. So I wish her the best. But you can't then continue to serve. You can't sit at that podium,

knowing that your future colleagues are sitting there, you know, they can't embarrass you, so they're not going to ask you tough questions. You don't want to do anything. I mean, this is so unethical and wrong. She is the first press secretary to ever go straight from the podium to hosting a show. I waited two and a half years, and it's not a question of that. Even if she wanted to go straight from, again, God bless her, go for it.

But then step down. You can't continue to do this and go on this farewell publicity tour as press secretary where you're continuing to interact with the folks that are going to be your colleagues. Yeah. No, thank you for that. And one final question for you, and on the personal or more humorous side, I've got to ask you about Bunnygate. Yeah. So you dressed up as the Easter Bunny and the George W. Bush administration.

Yeah. So President Biden obviously has this incident with the Easter Bunny. Just your thoughts on what happened there. Well, the funny thing about it is, I mean, two, one, it was really interesting because when that happened, of course, I saw a lot of stories come out sort of noting my. of history and it's funny because so many of them are wrong and I just say that because the interesting thing is that because of the nature of the job it's very hot so you only do it for about an hour and so this idea that they were like oh this was spicer when he was back I you know and it was like I did it for an hour I didn't like they were like there were these pictures that they would

show from 2008 oh that was him never true not true but the idea that a press staffer in that case walked over to the president Biden while he was answering questions about Afghanistan and basically moved him away, and no one thought that was a problem? I just, I look at that and go, guys, like, you're the press. You're supposed to be outraged by something like this. Yeah. Sean Spicer, keep doing what you're doing. It's great to have you back on the Daily Signal.

Always good to be here. Are you looking for quick conservative policy solutions to current issues? Sign up for Heritage's weekly newsletter, The Agenda. In the agenda, you will learn what issues Heritage Scholars on Capitol Hill are working on, what position conservatives are taking, and links to our in-depth research. The agenda also provides information on important events happening here at Heritage that you can watch online, as well as media interviews from our experts. Sign up for the agenda on heritage.org today. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor.

Each Monday, we feature our favorites on this show. Virginia, who's up first? In response to Garrett Stettman's commentary, student loan bailout is handout to ruling elite. Annette writes, I sat and thought about this loan forgiveness concept for almost 10,000. seconds. Funny thing is it chimes right in with taxation without representation. As per the U.S. Constitution, I'm pretty sure the only body of the government that has the authority to levy taxes is Congress, not the president or unelected officials. Pretty sure that was designed to eliminate a king from creating new taxes because he can. That said, loan forgiveness equates into

new taxes. And in response to Zach Smith and John Malcolm's commentary, could Supreme Court leaker be criminally prosecuted? Maybe. We received this letter from Charles Williams. It would seem, at the very least, that clerks, and for that matter, anyone who works around the justices are in the building, be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Though the Supreme Court very, very rarely would decide a case that might be considered a national security threat, Congress should consider the threat of riots and or personal harm to justices as justification for some measure strong enough to deter the would-be leakers. Your letter could be featured on next week's show, so send us an email at letters at dailysignal.com. Virginia Allen here, I want to tell you all

about one of my favorite podcasts. Harridge Explains is a weekly podcast that breaks down all the policy issues we hear about in the news at a 101 level. Post, Michelle Cordero and Tim Desher mix in news clips and music to tell a story, but also bring in heritage experts to help break down complex issues. Heritage Explains offers quick 10 to 50 minute explainers that bring you up to speed in an entertaining way. You can find them on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcast. We even put the full episode on YouTube. Virginia, you have a good news story to share with us today. Over to you. Thanks so much, Rob. You know, with all the conversations right now about Roe v. Wade being overturned and defending life,

it only feels appropriate today to share the story of one woman who has dedicated her own life to preserving life. Barbara Nichols is a 99-year-old Army nurse veteran. Barbara was just 19 years old when America found itself right in the middle of World War II. She first worked in a Boeing factory in Washington State. She tells Eric Johnson of KOMO News that her job was to install the noses on B-17 airplanes. I was on the plane and put on the nose because I was small and I could get into the front part of the plane. In 1944, Barbara joined the cadet nurse corps. After her medical training, she was stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington in 1947.

I was in the operating room at the time doing a lot of the surgery. And these young men, you know, the wounds that they had in. And it really bothered me a lot. When World War II ended, Barbara decided she wanted to stay in the military. So when the Korean War began in 1950, she again began cancer. caring for injured soldiers. Barbara told KOMO news that even today, it's hard to think back on the severity

of some of the injuries she tended to. It's hard to see these kids come in, limbs gone, there's so many wounds that you practically have to turn around and cry a while because it's so hard to do. Barbara was named Chief Nurse of the US Army Third Hospital, hospital, and when the Vietnam War broke out, she again stepped up to serve. She was stationed at a field hospital in Korea. After serving in three wars and helping to save countless lives, Barbara resides today at a nursing home in Washington and is believed to be the oldest living

battlefield nurse. And what a profound example of service. May we all, to some degree, be like Barbara and fight to protect and preserve life. Thanks so much for sharing that story and all that you are doing to help highlight stories like that at this time. Well, we're going to leave it there for today. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on the Rurkishay Audio Network. All of our shows are available at daily signal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review and a five-star rating.

It means a lot to us and helps us spread the word to other listeners. And make sure that you're following us on Twitter at Daily Signal and Facebook. dot com slash the Daily Signal News. Have a great week. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. The executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Doug Blair.

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