LEMON DROP - Trump’s New White House Press Secretary Is Already Toast

Let's talk about now what's going on at the White House and this administration and another distraction. And I believe if you think that was the disastrous performance by the new White House press secretary yesterday was it, you got another thing coming, because I'm going to tell you what the next story is going to be. It's going to be, well, they're talking about the Hatch Act. But Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zakaria — I know it's Zachariah, but I like to call it Zakaria since, you know, they're always like Barack Hussein Obama and Abdul, the Muslim. So, you know, Fareed Zakaria. Why can't her name be spelled almost the same? I think it's the same almost. So Katie Zakaria,

Trump introduced her as an attorney yesterday after her disastrous performance at the podium. She has described herself as a lawyer and worked as general counsel, but reporting has raised some questions about whether she's licensed to practice law anywhere in this country. Yesterday, somebody asked her where she passed the bar. Listen very closely. I think she was very good. I thought she was very good.

That was a question. Which state? She has a lot. Which state? Did she answer the question? Did you see Donald Trump's face? I'm going to play it again and I want you to listen. I got it. I'm going to play it here and watch Donald Trump's face here.

Did you see how he looked over and said, 'It's China.' He was probably going, 'Did you see that?' He was probably going, 'China, China.' Maybe he doesn't know China's not a state. She has a law degree from Pepperdine and says that she worked in international law in China. Okay, but where did she pass the bar? Where is she licensed? That should be easy to answer. And this came after a first briefing that had people inside the White House talking to CNN and others about how badly it went. One called it, and I quote here, brutal. Some were already questioning how long she would last. Her first briefing and her own colleagues are calling reporters about her. That is a rough day. Here she is stumbling

Okay, just the body language alone. I mean, she needed to read that.

I mean, come on. Okay, so I was like, what the hell is that? But I'm sure you know there's been a record number of black women who lost their jobs under this administration at DEI, right? Like qualified black women. I can only — black ladies, let me know how you feel. I can only imagine the black lady sitting at home going, 'What the [__] is this? You mean I lost my job and now she has one and she is like the face of the White House for the president, the mouthpiece? Like really? This woman?' Oh, you thought that was bad? I think she's got some daddy or some husband or president issues. Uh, because this rolling

Now look, y'all. I can understand being nervous; it's understandable. And so I'm not going to — as I was thinking about what I was going to say, I don't want to make excuses because people have been nervous before. I have been nervous before, but never have I had a performance like that. And even when you're nervous, you know what they say. Y'all know what they say, right? Come on. If you're in the thing, if you are in this chat, if you are watching right now, what do you say? You say, 'Fake it until you [__] make it.' I have been doing that my entire life. And I don't mean faking my qualifications, even though when I started at CNN back in 2006, everybody thought I was like 20 years old. I think I was in my 40s by then, but I had been around to like at least six markets doing my [__]. Let's see. Started in New York, went to Birmingham, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and then Atlanta. Yeah. And then New York. But I was a DEI hire or I was an affirmative action hire even though I had more experience than even some of the anchors and reporters who were already at CNN. But somehow because I was black and I looked young, I had to be a diversity hire. [__] racist people, idiots. But this woman, she does not have it.

So I don't want to give her an excuse about, oh well, you know, it's nerves on my first day. If you are going to be the White House spokesperson, you have better know your [__] and have it together on day one. No excuses. She is not qualified. She is awful. Now you know what they're going to do right now? Here's what they're going to do. They're going to pull her. They're going to give her some media training classes and then they may give her another shot at the podium and they'll see, oh my gosh. And then if that doesn't work, we'll see how many Scaramuccis she has in her. But they won't fire her. They won't fire her. She'll do what a lot of people do. They'll move her on to something else and then a couple years later, she will fail up. Then they'll just put somebody else in there. So yeah, I get being nervous is understandable, but the job also requires answers and moxie and smarts and brilliance and experience, not some QAnon conspiracy theorist who worked at a subpar news station. Somebody asked about intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Okay. And this is what she said. Here it is. Roll it.

Really? Katie Zakaria. Zachariah. There are two major wars — there are many, there are more conflicts — two major wars in this country going on. Two. Now, if somebody asked him about another war somewhere else and she goes, 'Listen, that's something I need to discuss with the administration. This is my first day here, so let me get back to you.' Whatever. But on Ukraine, you're not prepped for that. You don't know about that. You can't open — remember, do you remember Jen Psaki and all the tabs she had and she'd be like, let me — Ukraine, yeah, it says here we are not sharing with — thank you, next. Your job is to answer questions that matter. There is a war going on. She had plenty to say about how wonderful Donald Trump is. That question though, she was not prepared for. And Donald Trump had the nerve to call her performance outstanding. He praised it. He praised her. Meanwhile, officials inside the administration were reportedly questioning whether she could handle the job on day one. And now reporters are examining the background. And just so you know, the K Files over at CNN found posts sharing Pizzagate and other conspiracy material, baseless accusations about Democrats, offensive claims about Michelle Obama, even claims about Hollywood elites being cannibals. Cannibals. Cannibals. This is Katie Zachariah Zakaria that I'm talking about. This woman is now supposed to give the country reliable information on behalf of the president. Do you guys see what's going on here? Do you see what's going on here? How did that history get through the hiring process? Was there a hiring process? Did anybody check? Did anybody check her public posts? Did anybody check her credentials? Or was being good on television and praising Trump enough? Now, everyone said that Trump — this was her, at least the reporting is that this was Donald Trump's pick. I can't tell you what role her appearance played in the decision, but I can tell you if you look at Kayleigh McEnany, blonde, that K. If you look at the Caroline that replaced her, another K blonde. I mean, she replaced a blonde, but we know — and then now we have her. But we know Trump pays attention to how people look on television. We know he chose her.

Now I want — what I want to hear from the people who spend so much time lecturing everybody else about merit. What is going on here? When a black woman gets a prominent job, suddenly they want to examine every qualification. Every qualification. Oh my gosh, Kamala Harris, she's not qualified. She can't be president. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, she's not black enough. Karine Jean-Pierre — on her worst day, Karine Jean-Pierre ran circles around this woman. The questions about whether black women deserve to be there never stopped. And now we have unanswered questions about this appointment. Where's that same scrutiny from the people who couldn't stop talking about DEI? By their own standards, would they call Katie Zakaria Zachariah a DEI hire? Or do those standards only apply to people who don't look like them and they already dislike?

Let me ask you something. When politicians say religious freedom, whose religion are they talking about? Because this country has Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and millions of Americans who don't practice any religion at all. So, religious freedom has to mean freedom for everybody. The right to believe, the right to worship, the right to question, the right not to believe. That principle matters whether there is an election coming or not. The Freedom From Religion Foundation works to protect constitutional separation between church and state and represents freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and non-religious Americans. And separation of church and state protects religious people, too, because government shouldn't be deciding which faith gets favored. If you want to learn more about their work, go to ffrf.us/don or text DON to 511511. That's ffrf.us or text DON to 511511. Text fees may apply.

Trump hired her. He introduced her as an attorney. His White House should explain what it verified before giving her this job. My question is — you can help me out with this. Let me know in the comments. Will she last? Will she last? Who knows? But she has barely started. And already the conversation is about her background and her performance and whether she's telling the truth or whatever it is about her law license. You know, one thing that I know is that Donald Trump does not like being overshadowed and he does not like being embarrassed. So, we will see how long he keeps praising this. Oh, there he is. I was just looking. Adam Mockler went head to head with her. Hi, Adam. How are you?

I'm great. It's good to see you. Adam, I want to get this break in.

Adam, good morning to you.

So good to see you. I'm sorry I went off a little bit on this because this was so ridiculous. And I have — I noticed, Adam, I have to be honest with you. I noticed that we basically did the same video about her yesterday watching her. What? You debated her face to face. Adam, what is going on here?