Sarah Huckabee Sanders Reveals Why She Left The Trump Administration
Her loyalty to Donald Trump was unwavering, so much so that she once said that God had "wanted Donald Trump to become president." The feeling was mutual, as Donald Trump positioned her as a "special person, a very, very fine woman" (via BBC).
Sarah Huckabee Sanders became a household name as the press secretary for President Donald Trump, but after two and a half years on the job, she left in June 2019 (via NBC). But it wasn't for a lack of wanting to continue the work, rather she told reporters at the time that she wanted to spend more time with her children. She also said at the time that it would be ideal for a new press secretary as the reelection campaign ramped up (via Politico).
Sanders didn't hold regular White House press briefings
Sarah Huckabee Sanders began her time in service of the Trump administration in February 2016 as a senior adviser, and when Donald Trump nabbed the nomination in September, she was assigned to help out in the communications team. It was Sanders that put out the fire which was triggered by the Access Hollywood tape, where Trump was recorded saying the infamous words that could have torpedoed the campaign. Her success put her in place to serve as deputy press secretary when Trump ascended to the White House in January 2017 (via Biography).
During her time as press secretary, Sanders at one point went 94 days without a White House podium briefing, the longest at the time in over two decades. That record was, however, broken by Trump's last presidential press secretary Kayleigh McEnany who held a press briefing at the podium after a 400-day break, which included no press briefings given by her predecessor Stephanie Grisham (via Forbes).
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was 'Trump's battering ram'
While Sanders may not have addressed the public through the more traditional White House briefings, she was still one of her president's staunchest public defenders. She often made appearances on Fox News (via Politico), and she came under fire for staying pretty much in lockstep with Trump's views — from family separations to hush money for women who Trump allegedly had affairs with (via CNN).
She also supported what were sometimes shifting explanations and stories by the former president, which in turn, caused some to question Sanders' credibility; one reporter once asked her, "Were you lying to us at the time? Or were you in the dark?" (via PBS NewsHour). Huckabee-Sanders' work even got her thrown out of a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, where the owner asked her to leave because of the job she was carrying out in the Trump administration (via BBC). Such was her loyalty that The New Yorker once called her "Trump's battering ram".
Sarah Huckabee Sanders left with no hard feelings
Still, Sanders left her post with no hard feelings between herself and Trump. She was even quoted as saying "This [experience] is something I will treasure forever. I'm going to continue to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president" (via BBC).
Then-President Trump tweeted at the time of her departure announcement, "She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!" (via Politico). And of her time as press secretary, Sanders said, "I've loved every minute, even the hard minutes" (via NPR).
Sarah Huckabee-Sanders' campaign has Trump's endorsement
So when the former spokeswoman announced that she would be kicking off a campaign to run for governor of her home state of Arkansas through a video released on Twitter, she promised to be a standard-bearer for Trump's policies, saying: "I took on the media, the radical left and their cancel culture, and I won," the former press secretary said. "As governor, I will be your voice and never let them silence you" (via The Hill).
Such was the state of the relationship between Sanders and her former White House boss that he endorsed her candidacy, calling her "a warrior who will always fight for the people of Arkansas and do what is right, not what is politically correct." He pointed out that his former press secretary, who has extensive campaign but no administrative experience, would make a "great" governor because she is "strong on Borders, tough on Crime, and fully supports the Second Amendment and our great law enforcement officers" (via Twitter).
How successful Sanders will be in capturing the governorship, which her father Mike once held, is an open question, since the Republican field in what is a deeply red state is already quite crowded.