It's been quite a week for Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
First, a report surfaced on Wednesday that she would be bidding adieu to the White House at the end of the year -- moving on join her predecessors Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci at whatever fancy island hideaway they've set themselves up on.
Then, on Thursday, she faced tough criticism from reporter Brian Karem about the administration's widely condemned policy of separating children from parents who arrive in the U.S. illegally. He asked her point blank, "Don't you have any empathy for what these people are going through?"
Her very ungraceful avoidance of the question may well turn out to be the defining moment of her tenure as secretary. But it's certainly not the first time Sanders has stepped in it.
She hasn't collected near the amount of bizarre quotes and brilliant meltdowns as Spicer and the Mooch, but she's done her fair share to contribute to the theater of the absurd that is the Trump White House.
Let's look back at some of her most "memorable" moments.
SEE ALSO:Sarah Huckabee Sanders got a little salty over her incorrect photo detailsSanders didn't even speak directly during this incident, but it's a moment that will forever be associated with her -- kind of like Spicer and his (alleged) hiding in the bushes. It's all thanks to comedian Michelle Wolf, whose blistering speech scorched all of D.C., though she saved some of her harshest barbs for Sanders.
It was so brutal that some notable members of the press actually defended Sanders and criticized Wolf. But those people completely missed the point here, and it's their loss. Wolf's takedown was brilliant and a great reminder that the White House press secretary is still complicit in spreading the lies and "alternative facts" that flood out of the White House.
After the maelstrom that Wolf's joke kicked up, a funny thing happened: Despite the outcry, members of the press suddenly started holding Sanders accountable! It was just a few days after the WHCD when Trump admitted to paying $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels after denying it a month before.
At that day's White House Press Briefing, the press went directly at Sanders for her role in amplifying Trump's denials, asking what she knew and when did she know it. Sanders managed a meek verbal shrug, saying, "I gave you the best information that I had."
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The White House Easter Egg roll seems like it should be a slam dunk. Say some nice words, trot out the Easter Bunny (is that Sean Spicer?!), and do a little reading to the kids. But nothing is normal about the Trump White House. They gave Sanders the duty of reading the strangest adaptation of the biblical Easter story I've ever heard.
By the time Sanders punctuates the entire thing with a half-hearted "yay," the Easter story has been turned into something that's not even recognizable from its original form -- just like all of the other norms the Trump administration has shattered into a million pieces.
The Pickle Letter. The Pickle Maneuver. PickleGate. Whatever you call it, it's a moment that will forever be burned into our brains.
Attempts to distract from drama elsewhere is an old White House trick, but Sanders really upped the game in 2017 when, in the wake of Trump tweeting he would ban transgender troops from the military, she read a two-month old letter from young child Dylan, aka "Pickle."
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The ploy was so obvious that some even questioned whether or not "Pickle" is real (spoiler alert: he is!). It's always good for a press secretary to prompt only feelings of suspicion from the press.
One of the darker moments for the White House (which is really saying something) came in February 2018 when Rob Porter, a White House aide, faced accusations of domestic abuse from two ex-wives.
As the administration, including Sanders, tied itself in knots defending Porter, and then, days later, tried to untangle the mess they made of it, the administration came under even heavier scrutiny. It was especially rich given Trump's own previous behavior and lingering accusations of harassment.
When faced with questions about the scandal, Sanders acted as if she was reading from a script, refusing to answer reporters' questions directly, doing her best to cover herself, the president, and everyone who knowingly stood by Porter and lied about what they knew and when they knew it.
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In case you were looking for behavior that was truly feckless, look no further.
You haven't seen patronizing until you've seen a White House press secretary refuse to answer reporters' questions on Thanksgiving Week until they say what they're thankful for, like it's a second grade class room and not the White House press briefing.
Woof. As we've seen, part of a press secretary's job is defending the indefensible and damn if Sanders didn't try pretty hard when comments about slavery made by Chief-of-Staff John Kelly were making the rounds.
Specifically, Kelly, in trying to speak out against the removal of several Confederate statues, played the "but the Civil War wasn't fought over slavery" card, which is obviously just dead wrong.
Journalist April Ryan brought Kelly's comments up during a subsequent briefing and was met with a pretty salty response from Sanders that did nothing to correct the alternative facts Kelly had created about the Civil War.
The aforementioned April Ryan was also the target of ire from Sanders' predecessor, so it makes sense that Sanders, too, would spar with the veteran reporter.
In the press briefing when Sanders was taken to task about what she knew about Trump's payment to Stormy Daniels, Ryan asked Sanders about feeling "blindsided" which prompted a snap "you don't know me"-style response from Sanders.
And, then, in the aftermath of the NFL's decision to implement new rules about players protesting the anthem -- and the revelation of Trump's involvement in the new rules -- Ryan and Sanders again sparred over Trump's comments on the protests with Sanders sniping at Ryan, "I let you rudely interrupt me and your colleague, and I ask that you allow me to finish."
While Ryan wasn't the only journalist Sanders would feud with, it certainly stood out because of the treatment Ryan received from Spicer, too.
And you can bet the treatment Ryan receives from whoever takes over when Sanders departs will be closely watched, too.
TopicsDonald TrumpPolitics
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