A North Texas woman has a unique perspective on the Donald Trump, James Comey drama.
Merrie Spaeth has worked for a sitting president and an FBI director.
Spaeth was the director of media for President Ronald Reagan and was later assigned to work with FBI Director William Webster.
These days, she’s watching the Trump administration from her Dallas communication and consulting firm, Spaeth.
“Like everybody else I’m following it,” said Spaeth. “Who could not be addicted to it? It’s fascinating.”
The president firing Comey, the political fallout, all collided with a never-ending news cycle.
Spaeth calls some of that fascination ‘engineered hysteria.’
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“It’s not that it’s Democrats versus Republicans it’s all of us,” she said. “We’re eager to seize on any little thing. It’s like: Oh my Heavens, look at this!”
Mr. Trump’s latest tweets warn Comey against leaking anything negative against him. The tweet eluding to the possibility of the president having tape recordings of their conversations.
The president also put the media on notice that he may cancel press briefings that have been held for more than a century.
“Probably every single president at some point has turned to his staff and said: ‘Let’s just send written statements and get rid of these people.’ It’s just that this president said it publicly,” she said.
When it comes to the flurry of comparisons to President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, Spaeth quickly responds: “Oh, People just need to calm down! Watergate was a completely different set of circumstances actually certainly different personalities in the White House. Some of the issues may look the same but they are very, very different.”
Spaeth, who backed Ted Cruz, says the Trump administration is short-staffed and that the president is on a steep learning curve. But she believes ‘he’ll get there.’
