If ever a picture was worth a thousand words...or, in this case, tabs...
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany flips through the topic headings in her binder during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. July 16, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst #Reuters pic.twitter.com/8QFTgBKa06
— Jonathan Ernst (@j_ernst_DC) July 17, 2020
Stealthy and eagle-eyed photographer Jonathan Ernst caught a glimpse of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's famous briefing binder, and it provides quite the window into Trump's messaging priorities. Some of the tabs are perfectly reasonable, and what one would expect from any press secretary. Nothing wrong with organizing the info on top issues of the day, and topics like "Health," "Election," "CDC," and even "Reopen" make perfect sense.
However, according to the photo, and Mediaite,
Also included were notable files on former President Barack “Obama,” as well as subjects used to frequently criticize Trump like “Golf,” “Russia,” “Hate,” and a misspelled “Meuller.”
But many of the tabs spoke to this White House’s favorite boogeymen, with categories such as “Media,” “Lies,” “China,” “BLM,” “Privil” suggesting white privilege, and one simply labeled “Absurd.” “Statues” was also included as was “LGBT.” Notably, one tab was labeled “Karl,” which might be an oppo brief against ABC News White House correspondent Jon Karl, who has frequently clashed with Trump at press conferences.
Oh, dear. A tab devoted entirely to "HATE?" What — and I say this with the utmost gravity — the actual f*ck?
Also note, there is a tab labeled "HATCH." I will presume that is not devoted to information about retired U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch. Rather, it's much more likely that tab contains as many excuses, lies, and counter-arguments the administration can muster for the blatant violations of the Hatch Act committed by the Trump family.