Bill Shine is no longer welcome at Fox News because he allegedly “enabled a culture of sexual harassment,” but he is welcome in Trump’s White House.
A few months ago, shortly before Fox News’ John Bolton was hired to serve as Donald Trump’s national security advisor, Fox News’ Juan Williams joked on the air that if you want to work in this White House, it’s a good idea to be in a Fox News green room – “because apparently that’s the staging area.”
It was a point rooted in fact. This president has made all kinds of unusual personnel decisions, but one of the common threads tying together many of Trump’s hires is his familiarity with their work on television.
But once in a while, the Republican president looks past Fox News hosts and personalities, and instead hires Fox News executives .
And while that’s certainly true, that’s not the only experience Shine brings with him to the White House.
Slate published this piece last year about why the newest member of Team Trump left Fox News.
In theory, this creates an awkward dynamic, especially given the accusations Trump has faced over his alleged mistreatment of women: the new deputy White House chief of staff was no longer welcome at Fox News because he allegedly “enabled a culture of sexual harassment,” but he is welcome in the West Wing.
As for Shine’s role, he’ll apparently oversee White House communications as a deputy chief of staff, but he won’t be communications director, at least not officially. Hope Hicks, who stepped down a few months ago, was Trump’s fifth communications director since Election Day 2016, and it now appears that the position will remain vacant, at least for a while.
