Glasser: Even A Decade Into Trump's Presidency, Appearing On FOX News Is Still The Most Effective Way To Reach Him
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/10/17/glasser_even_a_decade_into_trumps_presidency_appearing_on_fox_news_is_still_the_most_effective_way_to_reach_him.html

On MS NOW, "New Yorker" staff writer Susan Glasser says appearing on FOX News remains one of the most effective ways to reach President Donald Trump.

EUGENE DANIELS, MS NOW HOST: Susan, this is bigger than whether Kaley Zachariah is good on TV or if she was going to be good at press briefings. This goes to a president of the United States who seemingly watched TV, saw her doing what he thought was well on TV. She sounded like she finagled, so she was on TV when she thought he would be there watching.

What does it say about how this president chooses folks? He promised he would only have the best people around him. He has promised that the folks that come into the White House and speak on behalf and work on behalf of the American people would be the best that he could find.

That's kind of never been true in some instances.

SUSAN GLASSER, THE NEW YORKER: Yeah, Eugene, I think this is a really important point. You know, Donald Trump has proven to be highly manipulable, especially by people who appear on his favorite programs on Fox News or elsewhere and essentially amplify back to him the things that he wants to hear. I still hear in my reporting to this day, Eugene, that people who want to influence Donald Trump's foreign policy decisions will go on television, will go on the aforementioned Sean Hannity, and that that is the most effective way in many respects, even now, a decade into Trump's time in public life, for communicating important foreign policy messages to the president.

So you have, on the one hand, the president who's highly manipulable, but I think this also raises another question, which is, who is actually running this White House? You've seen his White House chief of staff, Suzy Wells. She's lasted longer than many of the first-term chiefs of staff.

You know, OK, we were told she's not a substantive person. OK, she's not in charge of foreign policy. You would think that one thing she might be in charge of is making sure that there are competent, credible candidates for important roles.

And again, these aren't public service roles. These are not like to be my assistant at the Trump Organization. These are jobs that are paid for by the taxpayer to represent the government of the United States.

That press secretary role has an important function in the United States and around the world in communicating what the world's leading superpower, what its policies are, you know, where it's going, what it's doing. And I just think there's a big question about what the leadership of the Trump White House is going to be at a time when obviously there was no one around him who said, Mr. President, are you sure you want to do this? Is this really a good idea?

I don't think he's getting advice like that right now, Eugene, on many matters that are, frankly, more important even than who's going to be the next White House press secretary.