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Why have a reality show when you can turn reality into a show, am I right?

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is not a man widely known to be good at his job. He tells blatant falsehoods to the press, consistently mispronounces the names of foreign leaders, and recently proved Godwin's Law IRL. His daily press conference always seems like a train that's about two run-on sentences from derailing and wiping out a news cycle. This is not normally considered good, but it is highly watchable for middle-of-the-weekday TV. And to Spicer's boss, anything that watchable must be good.

President Donald Trump has said he won't fire Spicer because "that guy gets great ratings," according to a story published late Sunday by The Washington Post.

Trump, the Postreported, "even likened Spicer's daily news briefings to a daytime soap opera, noting proudly that his press secretary attracted nearly as many viewers."

I'm not sure citizens of the United States are into having official business conducted like an episode of General Hospital, but, hey, those same citizens also elected a former reality TV star to the presidency, so what do I know.

As the Postarticle goes onto explain, Trump is a man long obsessed with TV who understands its power and rhythms. And when you think about it, keeping Spicer for ratings fits well with how he's conducted other matters of government. He hosted a live TV event to announce his pick for the Supreme Court. He holds campaign rallies even though he won't need votes for another 3.5 years. Just the other day he tried to make a brief little reality show of who would get the pen he used to sign an executive order.

So there's a key for folks looking for a way to get a job at the White House. You don't necessarily have to be good at your job, you just need to get people to watch you.

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