Donald Trump, probably with the advice of “unofficial chief of staff” Sean Hannity, is reportedly about to hire former Fox News Co-President Bill Shine as White House communications director. Shine was ousted from Fox last year after multiple allegations that he helped cover up Roger Ailes’ sexual harassment. UPDATED
From today’s New York Times:
Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive who was close to Roger E. Ailes, the network’s ousted chairman, is expected to be offered the job of White House communications director, according to two people familiar with the decision.
[…]
Officials at the White House are aware that they will face blowback for appointing someone so closely tied to Mr. Ailes and the culture of harassment toward women at Fox News. But they said Wednesday that they believe they can weather it.
Translation: White House to #MeToo: Drop dead!
The Times is significantly understating the importance of Shine to Ailes’ harassment.
Last year, shortly before Shine was pushed out, Gabriel Sherman reported that Fox News employees, hardly a group of leftist feminists, saw Shine as complicit in Ailes’ sexual predations:
Shine’s continued leadership has angered many Fox News employees, especially women, who view him as a product of the misogynistic Ailes culture. Shine joined the network in 1996, served as Sean Hannity’s producer, and rose through the ranks to become Ailes’s deputy. In that role, sources say he had the power to stop multiple instances of sexual harassment, including that of former Fox booker Laurie Luhn, but did not do so. (Through a Fox News spokesperson, Shine denies this.) He’s currently a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed this week by former Fox host Andrea Tantaros.
In recent days, per source, there was talk among Fox News women about circulating a petition inside the network calling for Shine's firing.
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) May 1, 2017
But Hannity – despite posturing as an advocate for abused women when it’s politically expedient – has remained close to Shine. He blew a gasket when Shine was booted from Fox and called it "the total end of the FNC as we know it." Last year, when Shine was previously thought to be under consideration for a job in the White House communications department, the Times reported:
… Mr. Shine has an influential ally in the Fox News host Sean Hannity, an informal adviser to Mr. Trump — and one of his most loyal on-air supporters — who dined with Mr. Shine, the president and the first lady at the White House last week.
[…]
Mr. Hannity, who speaks frequently with Mr. Trump, is close to Mr. Shine, and the two men spend time together with their families. At Fox News, the pair talked several times a day ...
In my last post, I noted that Hannity, previously dubbed Trump’s “unofficial chief of staff” by Trump aides, has been referred to by Trump, himself, "as the second most powerful person in the country." So there's little doubt that Hannity had a say in Shine's hiring.
If he gets and takes the job, Shine will be Trump’s fourth communications director in his 17-month tenure.
Oh, and don't forget, Trump claims, "Nobody has more respect for women than I do." That is, when he's not boasting about committing sexual assault. Or, even worse, committing it.
Watch ABC News’ May 2, 2017 report on Shine’s departure from Fox News below.
6/30/18 update: Shine accepted the position of White House deputy chief of staff in charge of communications.
Now that Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is retiring, Mrs. Albert Pirro will be licking her chops at this opportunity.
NOTE TO HANNITY
Organizers of that Goldstar gala could have chosen a more worthy host for their event. Instead, they chose a worthless, overpaid talker who is full of himself.
We know you will be asking if there are “any liberals here” at this event, like you did at Talkers in NYC. You are such a paranoid, silly old man.
Book of Revelation was right about you (second beast) and Trumpy (first beast). Where’s your Mark?
