MAGA’s defense of Zacharia quickly BACKFIRES after Trump firing

[0:00] good evening and happy friday from new york i'm chris hayes what does the phrase the very best [0:05] people mean to you probably not the same thing it means to donald trump to him a good employee [0:10] has two qualities first and he's really obsessed with this and keeps talking about it they have to [0:16] look the part central casting as he calls his imagination and second they have to be obviously [0:22] servile completely loyal to him above everything and everybody else above any ethical concerns [0:29] anything and the trouble is there's just not a lot of principal competent substantive people who meet [0:34] those criteria sometimes it's so bad even the president has to admit it that's where we begin [0:40] tonight as trump says goodbye to katie zachariah the white house press secretary who no you're not [0:47] you're not getting this wrong started just on monday and is leaving today friday 18 days out from the [0:53] midterms in her first and what would prove to be only press conference on tuesday zachariah got to [0:58] deliver the news of another official's firing that would be of course kimberly guilfoyle the [1:03] former fiance of donald trump jr who had been inexplicably elevated to ambassador of greece [1:09] now guilfoyle was first out forced out amid growing allegations of official corruption which [1:13] she denies although there's some text messages that are pretty troubling three days later zachariah is out [1:19] as well not for any alleged corruption uh but for sheer incompetence and it is just the latest [1:24] example of what we like to call trump's reverse meritocracy at work zachariah was manifestly [1:32] unqualified to be press secretary she got caught repeatedly calling herself a liar when it turned [1:36] out she had failed the bar and could not practice law she deleted old social media posts boosting [1:41] pizza gaze conspiracy theories about democrats and hollywood elites eating children and one about [1:45] michelle obama having a penis and at the podium she stammered for 15 minutes in a manner that had [1:52] even some right-wing pundits concerned for her some though we should say but not all because here's [1:57] the thing zachariah was donald trump's pick which meant what that the mega media needed once again [2:03] to rally together and defend the indefensible in the strongest terms possible kudos to her for coming [2:12] out and just saying i'm going to do a briefing i'm going to do it within 24 hours and i'm going to drop [2:16] it and she came out loaded with news and then she dropped the mic and walked away and so i think from [2:20] a strategic perspective that was a really smart move as she does this she'll develop authority [2:26] and she'll be great remember corinne jean pierre we did whole segments about how catastrophic she was [2:33] she couldn't talk she couldn't pronounce words by the way where is corinne jean pierre so forget about [2:38] all that noise zachariah has been mocked she's been attacked over her appearance her hair the way she [2:43] spoke they questioned her intelligence her credentials they even asked about her bar exam all of this from a [2:49] group of people that claim to champion women in the workplace checkmate libs you say you want women [2:57] in the workplace but then you criticize someone who's obviously preposterously incompetent the praise [3:04] came from inside the administration too white house communications director stephen chung himself [3:09] an individual with a record of very troubling erratic behavior in public if you read his posts [3:14] here's what he had to say listen closely right up and down the white house everyone has been [3:20] thoroughly impressed with katie in just a few short days on the job at the end of this second term [3:25] she'll be remembered as one of the all-time greats that post is an all-time great now thank you steven [3:35] the next logical step of course was a goodwill tour of the right-wing media circuit but sean hannity a [3:41] master of the softball interview so good at it we call it hannitizing his subject who you just heard [3:47] praising zachari a few days ago ended up hitting her hard on her background you said you consulted [3:54] with many people and they advised you that it was okay to call yourself a lawyer but not an attorney [4:00] correct correct okay there's a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify [4:08] yourself as an attorney i think they were retweets why didn't you just say i never practiced law well sean i [4:17] when i moved back from the united states i didn't retake the bar i had four kids in six years it was [4:21] never my intent to go into the practice of law today on fox and friends the host tried to throw zachari [4:28] a couple of bones and honestly it didn't go much better you never want to be the story but i have to [4:36] ask do you wish you would have disclosed to the president about the bar and not passing the bar [4:43] yeah well lawrence those questions weren't asked i'm being hired as white house press secretary and not [4:49] white house counsel do you think you still have the confidence of the president uh i i'm standing [4:56] here and i was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention or excuse me the midterm [5:02] rallies and i hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me all right katie [5:08] thanks so much for joining fox and friends this morning thank you so much uh off and running i mean [5:15] i gotta say this being a good talker is not the most important skill for a human being to have there [5:19] are brilliant people who are not good talkers there's good talkers who are not brilliant [5:24] but being a good talker is real important for that job mind you as all this was going down for the [5:31] past few days there were no other white house press conferences but many questions about the white [5:35] house press secretary today trump told reporters why he had hired her and why it might have been a [5:41] mistake i said to katie just two minutes ago i said katie you know you don't have to do this if you don't [5:48] want i said to her honestly if i were you i'd reconsider you think about it but i would reconsider [5:55] you got a beautiful husband and family i just want her to be happy look he has suffered over the [6:02] the last few days and i'm not saying you know maybe it's not for her [6:07] katie continue to be in the administration yeah what she's saying she's got this good [6:13] and maybe a more pleasant form she's been very good you know she's been loyal to me from day one [6:17] for a long time but it's not an easy job i was around 1 15 this afternoon about 15 minutes later we [6:24] got the first reports that zacharai was out she lasted a week or just under half a scaramucci [6:30] but did you notice what trump said qualified her for the job listen carefully she's been loyal to [6:36] me from day one that's it right he takes all the standards of merit or performance or experience and [6:42] he throws it out in exchange for that for craven loyalty of course he has no loyalty to any of these [6:48] people or anyone especially we have to note the women who work for him who have left or been forced [6:54] out of the administration in droves you got pam bondy christine noem kelsey gabbard labor secretary [6:59] lori chavez de remer are all gone by the way all replaced by men now you got kimberly guilfoyle [7:05] and katie zachariah added to the list now to be very clear none of these people were suitable to [7:10] run the federal government in the first place some of them were genuinely egregiously terrible but [7:15] that's true about cash patel and harald lutnik it's certainly true about pete hegseth another guy trump [7:21] reportedly hired because he had the look could you imagine pete hegseth getting tough questions from [7:27] hannity about his past tweets much less the other allegations that have been leveled against him [7:31] could you imagine trump telling hegseth you don't have to do this you have a beautiful family at home [7:36] and say what you will about zachariah but at least she hasn't ordered the mass murder of over 200 [7:41] sailors on boats in the caribbean in violation of international domestic law and in a shred of human [7:45] decency donald trump has turned merit on its head he has replaced dei with affirmative action for chuds [7:54] and dunces this is what that gets you a team of mediocrities a breeding ground for corruption [8:00] a country in crisis and an all-time low approval rating for donald trump's white house reality show [8:05] hey it's rachel i am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is where i get to tell [8:09] you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on ms now on your phone [8:16] or your tablet or your laptop you can watch things live or recorded plus you can ask me 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