Trump After the Midterms: Chasing Headlines, Not Voters

Dana White stood at the White House briefing room podium this week. Not the former Pentagon spokesperson Dana White, but UFC's Dana White. In the same week, Susie Wiles was out as chief of staff, Stephen Miller was in, and the day after the midterms Trump gave reporters a tour of his ballroom construction.

Here is my thesis: since the election, Trump has not changed the subject. He has changed the channel. He isn't out to win voters anymore. He's out to win the news cycle, and every one of those moves was a headline.

We go through the week day by day, from the Friday afternoon news dump to the Truth Social post and the "only kidding" that followed. I read the Dana White pick as less a staffing decision and more a casting reveal, and I share why the briefing room now looks a lot like The Apprentice. Swapping a chief of staff after a loss also sends a signal: it was someone else's fault.

For contrast, we look at Barack Obama calling his 2010 loss a "shellacking" and George W. Bush calling 2006 a "thumping." Both named the loss. I also touch on NVIDIA, and why it is accountability that buys you a comeback. The takeaway for any leader: everyone has their version of a ballroom. Don't hide in yours.

The PR Breakdown is a weekly look at the PR moves and the spin behind the headlines, from a crisis communication and reputation management consultant. This episode was recorded on November 10.

00:00 Susie Wiles out
00:51 Not the subject, the channel
02:00 The week, day by day
03:06 Dana White for press secretary
05:14 The ballroom tour
07:19 Susie Wiles out, Stephen Miller in
08:48 A casting reveal
10:17 The Apprentice playbook
12:35 No bad episodes, only boring ones
13:58 A business example: NVIDIA
15:03 Shellacking and thumping
16:03 The lame duck years
17:02 Every leader has a ballroom
18:09 Closing

Every week I break down the biggest PR crises in the news: the slips, the moves, the scandals, and the lessons behind the headlines. I'm Molly McPherson, crisis and reputation strategist, known to my audience as the PR Lady. This channel is home base for the podcast and my weekly Substack live chats. Subscribe and follow along.

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