Kayleigh McEnamy’s Successor Held Her First Press Conference And People Found Her Professionalism Incredibly Surreal After Four Wild Years

Former president Donald J. Trump only had three White House press secretaries over the four years of his administration, but they were all about the same: They each held the press with obvious contempt, they each offered spin and distortions, even lies, over truth, and they were each generally perceived as wishing to protect their boss more than keep their fellow Americans informed. So when former Obama staffer Jen Psaki — successor to Trump’s final press secretary, the notorious Kayleigh McEnany — held her first press conference mere hours after her boss, Joe Biden, was elected, her professionalism and obvious kindness just seemed…kind of weird, to be honest.

Even the way Psaki started things couldn’t help but feel disarmingly decent. “It’s an honor to be here with all of you,” Psaki said. She then laid out her main goal as McEnany’s replacement. “When the president asked me to serve in this role, we talked about the importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room.”

She then took questions, and she proceeded to not treat reporters respectfully, not try to puff up her chief employer with exaggerations, and was even honest that she might not always see eye-to-eye.

“I have deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy and for the role all of you play,” she told reporters. “There will be moments when we disagree and there will certainly be days when we disagree, for extensive parts of the briefing, perhaps. But we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.”

It stood in stark contrast with the first press conference held by Sean Spicer, Trump’s initial press secretary, who started off by scolding shellshocked journalists and lying about Trump’s inauguration crowd size. She wasn’t withering, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and she wasn’t snippy and sarcastic, like McEnany.

In other words, Psaki was off to a great start, thought many on social media.

She was even overtly welcoming to the press.

She seemed professional and nice.

In fact, to many, having this feeling again, after four long years, felt kind of strange!

So there you have it! It wasn’t a terribly exciting press conference. But that, of course, is what made it feel so good.