The Atlantic

The Impossible Job of Speaking for Trump

Mike Dubke, the White House communications director, is leaving a few months after taking on the very difficult job of crafting public messaging for a famously improvisational president.
Source: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

As a staffer in the Trump White House, it’s dangerous to get too much attention; President Trump is known to dislike it when his staff outshines him in the media, or when aides get too much credit.

But as the departure of White House communications director Mike Dubke shows, having too low of a profile doesn’t protect you either.

“Mike is a pro,” said Katie Packer Beeson, a Republican strategist who has known Dubke for years. “But a communications expert is only as effective as the principal allows them to be. The best communications director in the business is no match for a boss who thinks they know better, changes their mind and struggles

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