In short, Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo threatened to “destroy” Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for asking entirely legitimate questions about his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. He also accused her of being jealous that another man “wanted to fuck” McCammond and not her.
Nearly three weeks later, the White House has put him on one week of unpaid leave as a result. You can almost hear the hemming and hawing coming out of Psaki, who obviously doesn’t want to fire him (perhaps because he’s battling cancer).
But I agree with the previous poster, he needs to be fired. His behavior was entirely unacceptable and he’s badly damaged his reputation with the press. Biden publicly set a high standard for those who work for him, and this would set an early, eye-opening example that he means it.
Thanks for restarting this with a proper Op. Well explained and a useful link.
As he is far from a household name, I added the info in the bracket to your title.
I agree, Ducklo should go. There should be no room in the White House for someone who acts like this.
It’s a little concerning that he hasn’t been forced out already. I don’t think anyone should be knee-jerk fired over an allegation, especially if they deny the allegation. But Ducklo hasn’t denied anything that’s been reported, and only vaguely apologized for “losing his temper.” I assume that the White House has established the facts of the situation by now, and they seemed to feel that it only warranted a one week suspension.
At least with Al Franken you had an argument that he was a particularly valuable Democratic Senator. While I’m sure Ducklo’s good at his job, there are a thousand press flacks that could step into his shoes tomorrow. It seems to me that Press Secretary Jen Psaki is reluctant to fire someone who she probably views as a friend and who (according to reports) is battling lung cancer. That’s why WH Chief of staff Ron Klain needs to take the decision out of her hands and demand his resignation or firing.
What about cancel culture? You can’t destroy a man’s life just because he said a few bad things. This is a witch hunt! She probably deserved it, anyway. It was locker room talk! Boys will be boys!
Just kidding. Just fire the guy. Set an example that this administration really is different.
Yeah this is a Klain decision, not a Psaki one. Biden is trying to establish credibility and trying to establish that they’re going to play by more normal rules of propriety and professional conduct. A week-long suspension hardly seems fitting if it’s already established that these kinds of threats actually happened.
I don’t believe Ducklo needs to be ruined. They can privately find a demotion for him somewhere in the DNC or some obscure fundraising role, but his days of working in the WH should probably be drawing to a close.
Assuming the truth of what’s alleged in the story (and I have no reason not to), yes, Ducklo has to go. Immediately.
I can’t believe he hasn’t been terminated already. This is an embarrassment to the Biden administration, and it really doesn’t make Jen Psaki look good.
I’d give even money that Ducklo doesn’t survive the weekend.
Ruined? No. The administration doesn’t have to make sure he never works again for the rest of his life. But I disagree with you that they could find him a job somewhere in the DNC or some other obscure spot.
That would only make the administration look completely hypocritical when they inevitably get caught arranging for some out-of-the-public-eye job for him, and rightly so.
They have to sever every single link with Ducklo. That means no employment in the Democratic Party, or anything Party-adjacent.
I think you gave the incorrect abbreviation for Roman Catholic Church. That would be RCC.
[/sarcasm]
Don’t shuffle this guy off to some remote DNC outpost. Can his ass and let him find another job without any help from this administration, or even the appearance of him getting any help from this administration.
I agree he just needs to be fired – not stealthily relocated to a lower profile position, nor blacklisted and treated as persona non grata. People get fired from Administration positions all the time. He’ll be fine. The important thing is that Biden uses this opportunity to show what he will and won’t accept from those who work for him.
As Saintly_Loser said, If the facts are as reported, he needs to be out of there. No question.
If it is as described, this was somehting entirely under his control to NOT escalate to threats and abuse.
And like flurb said, just let him go, have the White House/DNC neither protect him nor do a cancel campaign on him.
But Biden made the statement about treating people with dignity and respect or you’re out, they have to make it worth something.(*) Instead we are getting the disappointed face, administrative leave, and reassignment. “Thank you” say the RW talking heads.
Heck, IMO setting aside the confrontation, if there were uneasy questions to be raised about personal involvements, he had an obligation to ask himself from the start if this role was where he should be.
(* Okay, so the guy is under treatment for Stage 4 cancer and you don’t want to just put him in the street at such time? I’m sure some contributor can make room in his private payroll before the month is over.)
He did the right thing. Biden really goofed this up with his dumb off the cuff remark about immediate termination. I never expected immediate termination for someone, just a fair investigation and an honest report.