Your New White House Press Secretary: 6 of Kayleigh McEnany’s Greatest Cable News Hits

Former CNN contributor, ex-RNC spokesperson, erstwhile Trump campaign flack and current White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has a long record of distinguished service to the cable news churn, so before she takes her new post and is never heard from again, a tribute is in order.

Kayleigh McEnany got her television start as a booker for Fox News’ The Mike Huckabee Show, then was a regular guest on the network, but she really came into her own as a professional Trump supporter on CNN.

From there, she graduated to a brief stint as host of videos on President Donald Trump’s Facebook channel before being elevated to the position of Republican National Committee spokesperson, then went back to the Trump campaign, and is now the press secretary for an administration whose press secretaries haven’t held a press briefing since our worst “national emergency” was Trump’s border wall.

That may all change, but for now, there may be scant opportunity to see McEnany interact with people other than Bill Hemmer and Brian Kilmeade, so we’ve curated some of her greatest hits to tide you over.

Bye Corona

This Feb. 25 clip of McEnany went newly viral just days before her White House gig was announced, and features her telling now-ousted Fox Business host Trish Regan that “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.”

Missed it by that much.

Funky Poll Medina

McEnany showed off some of the skill that will come in handy if she ever gets to do a briefing, when she said “I don’t believe” the latest Fox News poll — which showed Joe Biden beating Trump by nine points — right on Fox News’ air, right to Martha MacCallum’s face.

Trump is “The Best Authority” on Preventing Spread of Coronavirus

Less notorious than the “coronavirus won’t come here” clip is this even more recent Fox Business hit in which even decidedly pro-Trump host Stu Varney asked if it was wise to continue holding rallies as the pandemic took hold.

It was McEnany’s job to defend the campaign’s decision, but elevating Trump’s expertise over that of renowned epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci was all Kayleigh.

Varney pointed out that “Dr. Fauci, who is also testifying on Capitol Hill, he just said there should be no large crowds,” and when McEnany was unmoved, said “The president goes ahead with holding his rallies, his top doctor, top medical guy, says don’t go with big crowds.”

Her response? “Look, the president is the best authority on this issue.”

Don’t Get Your Panthers in a Bunch

Mcenany cracked up a 2016 CNN panel about Trump’s warnings of a “rigged” election by invoking the specter of “New Black Panthers outside with guns essentially intimidating people,” then seconds later accused another panelist of “inject(ing) race” into the conversation. As a bonus, she falsely claimed there was documented evidence of the aforementioned gun-toting activists.

Who Are You Gonna Believe, Trump or Your Lying Eyes?

McEnany took flacking to eleven once again when she told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that Trump has never lied to the American people, causing a shocked Cuomo to declare “Interview’s over, Kayleigh.”

Implied Consent?

In a truly surreal 2016 segment about Trump’s Access Hollywood comments, CNN host Anderson Cooper was forced to explain the definition of sexual assault to McEnany, then after playing the comments for her again, had this exchange with her:

COOPER: So, because a woman does not fight back, it’s not sexual assault?

MCENANY: Let me start by saying again what I’ve said before, because I know all of these liberal outlets out there will completely take me out of context. Those comments are despicable, he apologized for them.

That being said, I don’t think he was condoning sexual assault. He said he starts to kiss a woman and then they let him do X, Y or Z. That implies consent, first of all. I don’t think he was advocating sexual assault.

COOPER: How does that imply consent?

MCENANY: You might think he’s gone around assaulting women, I don’t think that’s the case. I think viewers and voters will make up their own mind.