Like an unexpected stiff gust of wind in the middle of this long,phim sez an do dark winter, Sean Spicer has swept back in to our lives once more.
The former Press Secretary for the Trump Administration is back in the public eye as a "special correspondent" for, of all things, the syndicated ExtraTV entertainment news show.
In a new video posted by ExtraTV on Twitter, a hiking-vested Spicer is seen joshing around with current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan about the Oscars.
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Why? We're not exactly sure but it seems to be to put a soft touch on some of the role players that are part of a notoriously embattled administration, a decision that, well, still doesn't make a lot of sense.
SEE ALSO: Sean Spicer apparently stole a mini-fridge from his junior staffersIn the above clip, Spicer discovered that Pompeo likes AC/DC and Toby Keith and he really liked Bohemian Rhapsody! In other words, no deep state secrets about summits with North Korea are unveiled here. It's a short segment teasing a longer feature set to air on ExtraTV's Wednesday night episode.
It's the kind of lighter, puffier content aunts across America will devour. And, according to Spicer, that's the point. In a phone call with Mashable, Spicer said, "it's an opportunity to shed light on people you see only on the news."
"It's light, fun, it's not a news segment," he continued. "The goal is to make it a bipartisan thing."
While bipartisanship may be the eventual goal, Spicer's segments are, as I noted earlier, all focused on current members of the Trump administration. And if Spicer and Pompeo joking about the Oscars seems a bit weird, just wait. After Wednesday night's visit with the Pompeos, two more segments with Spicer will air: a visit with Trump aide Kellyanne Conway and her kids airs and a chat with current Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her husband Bryan.
As for if he'll do more of this in the future, Spicer told me it's a "one off," adding, "I've always had the opportunity to do things I've enjoyed. It's a cool idea."
As for why ExtraTV decided to hone in on Spicer, who has been, to put it gently, something of a lightning rod of controversy, that's more of a mystery and I've reached out to ExtraTV reps for more on that decision.
The idea, not surprisingly, isn't exactly going over well on some corners of Twitter, of course, where the judgement is a bit harsher and confusion understandably reigns.
CARD ID: 421714
CARD ID: 421712
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Whatever this winds up being, it's definitely a new addition to the ongoing list of bizarre moments Spicer's had in the public eye, from all those wild press conferences to the incident with the fridge.
And the entire thing feels intentionally built to spark controversy by normalizing controversial figures who represent a divisive administration because, hey, for ExtraTV, any press is good press, right?
Even in soft focus and sweaters, it'll be nearly impossible for all but Trump's most ardent supporters to separate the Spicer they see on TV from the one that declared Trump's inauguration was the most heavily attended in history, to forget about Conway's Orwellian "alternative facts" line, or to dismiss Sanders's withering credibility.
Good luck, Sean. Just steer clear of Beyoncé.
UPDATE: Feb. 20, 2019, 5:09 p.m. EST Updated to include quotes from Sean Spicer.
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