Chaos ruled over the phone lines as White House officials could not figure out for 22 minutes how to run their conference call with reporters on Iran sanctions.
It took the White House twenty-two minutes to figure out how to enable the “listening only” feature on a conference call on Thursday in which senior administration officials announced that President Trump would continue to waive nuclear program-related sanctions, keeping the deal intact.
“This White House can’t even run a f*cking conference call,” a reporter on an unmuted phone line angrily exclaimed to the entire call. “They don’t know how to mute their line.”
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Trump’s statement that he hires the best people gets more laughable as each day of his administration passes. Mistakes and tech problems happen on conference calls with reporters on a regular basis. Not every conference call goes perfectly, but it should never have taken White House 22 minutes to figure out a mute button. Some staffer should have googled it or requested help from the operator.
White Houses take on the personalities of their presidents. Incompetence and inattention to detail are traits that define Donald Trump, and his administration has been built on his own inept image.
If the Trump administration can’t run a phone call, the American people should have zero confidence in these people if they are ever confronted with a real crisis.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
