Scaramucci comms plan: Purge ‘bad eggs,’ auction golf with Trump, meet with ‘MSM’
August 4, 2017 in News by RBN Staff
Source: FOX NEWS |
Before his 11-day stint as White House communications director came to a crashing end, Anthony Scaramucci had big plans to shake up how the Trump administration connects with the public.
It included everything from auctioning off a round of golf with President Trump to running their communications shop like a “news channel” to purging the leakers and “bad eggs.” The plans were revealed in a July 30 “Communications Plan” memo obtained by Fox News.
The plan included a broad range of ideas for sharpening the operation and cleaning house where necessary.
“No more threats about leaking and internal game playing – anyone who takes actions that do not serve the President will be dismissed – period,” the plan said. “We will eliminate the bad eggs and send a powerful message to the remaining staff that well-intentioned mistakes are acceptable, but misconduct is not.”
At the same time, the document called for improving the “culture” and rewarding good work — and treating communications as a “customer service operation.” The New York financier intended to make sweeping changes, with a push to “make the news” and “fill the content void,” and focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Unclear is whether elements of this plan might be incorporated into the White House communications strategy going forward, following his ouster Monday — supposedly at the urging of new Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Incidentally, the memo included a “Scaramucci To-Do List” with the first item being “meet with General Kelly.”
Despite Scaramucci’s brash reputation, the plan reflected someone looking to reach out to the mainstream media. The document called Trump their top “customer” but acknowledged the media are an “important” customer as well.
“POTUS can choose to fight with the media, but Comms can not,” the document said. “… Comms should seek to de-escalate tensions with the media.”
Scaramucci wanted White House communications staff to meet with members of the “MSM, conservative media, and new media” to “build bridges and foster better working relationships,” the document said. His “To-Do List” included meeting with “leading journalists,” citing The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman by name.
SCARAMUCCI REMOVED AS WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Scaramucci also wanted the White House communications strategy to be run like that of a news channel, with “producers, scripts, and narration,” and wanted to “make the news—we go first.”
“We exercise influence over the news cycle because POTUS and the government make news –(i.e. do things on a daily basis that matter,” Scaramucci wrote, adding that an “effective Comms shop” will “dictate” the news of the day.
In his “we go first” mentality, Scaramucci also wanted to focus on the economy as a key pivot point for communications staff when “the media or Democrats attack POTUS.”
“For example, real Americans do not care about palace intrigue in the White House. POTUS is leading and fostering an economy that makes their lives better,” Scaramucci wrote. “Every positive piece of economic data needs to echo throughout the Comms eco-system, and Comms needs to find ways to connect positive economic data to real people.”
In an effort to commit focus to positive administration points, Scaramucci noted the need for a rapid response group dedicated to handling “hot issues/crises” to ensure the White House could conduct “normal operations”—something the White House was rumored to be considering during the early days of the Russia probe. Scaramucci cited the “Clinton White House Lewinsky model” as his example.
Getting creative, another section floated the idea of hosting a lottery or charity auction for a lucky winner to “play a round of golf” with Trump.
“POTUS is the best golfer to serve as President,” he wrote.
Scaramucci was forced out after the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza published a profanity-laced rant over leaks, Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who resigned the following day.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters after Scaramucci’s ouster that Trump thought Scaramucci’s remarks were “inappropriate.”
Nevertheless, Scaramucci wrote in his July 30 memo that he wanted to “make it clear” in the White House that “horn tooting and denigrating colleagues is unacceptable.”
The memo, created just three days after his now-infamous phone call with Lizza, also included the reporter on his to-do list: “meet with Ryan Lizza (not to litigate the past—to reset moving forward).”
Fox News’ John Roberts contributed to this report.
Brooke Singman is a Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.