Watch Trump's new press secretary thrash him on Fox and CNN in 2015


President Trump appointed Kayleigh McEnany to be his fourth press secretary last month. McEnany, previously Trump's campaign spokeswoman and before that a conservative cable news regular, was not always on Team Trump, as CNN discovered when digging through the cable news vaults for a highlight reel broadcast Thursday.
Trump "doesn't deserve" to be near the top of the GOP polls, McEnany told Fox Business in the summer of 2015. "Look, the GOP doesn't need to be turning away voters and isolating them, we need to be bringing them into the tent. Donald Trump is the last person who's going to do that." Trump's comments about Mexicans were "very inartful and very inappropriate," she told CNN. "I think the mainstream Republican does not want to send the illegal immigrant back to Mexico. ... That's not the American way, we're not going to ship people across the border. There has to be some path to citizenship." She even suggested Trump's comment was "racist."
McEnany certainly isn't the first Trump skeptic who has since publicly changed their mind — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), recent White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), for example, made scathing comments about Trump's unfitness for office during the 2016 campaign. But it is interesting to remember how far the Republican Party has shifted over the past four years.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
By October 2015, McEnany had changed her tone and said calling Trump a sexist and a racist was helping him among people sick of political correctness. But her problem was never that he was too conservative, the clips suggest. "Hey, I don't want to claim this guy," she laughed on CNN in June 2015. "Donald Trump, if we're going to be honest, is a progressive. ... This is not a true Republican candidate, and the fact that he's being portrayed as such in media is troublesome and not accurate."
At least McEnany is consistent about blaming the media.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
‘How can I know these words originated in their heart and not some data center in northern Virginia?’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Can Trump deliver a farmer bailout in time?
Today's Big Question Planting decisions, food prices in the balance
-
Tips for seizing control of your digital well-being
The Week Recommends A handy mix of technology and self-motivation
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies
Speed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
Courts deal setbacks to Trump’s Chicago operations
Speed Read President Donald Trump cannot deploy the National Guard in Illinois
-
Pentagon reporters turn in badges after refusing rules
Speed Read They refused to sign a restrictive new press policy imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
-
Supreme Court points to gutting Voting Rights Act
speed read States would no longer be required to consider race when drawing congressional maps
-
Trump says he authorized covert CIA ops in Venezuela
Speed Read He is also considering military strikes inside the country
-
‘Vile, racist’ leaked chats roil Young Republicans
Speed Read Leaders of Young Republican groups made racist, antisemitic and violent comments in private chats