White House wants to reset ties with media, but won't be asking Donald Trump to change his style

Washington: The Donald Trump administration’s new communications director Anthony Scaramucci said he wants to reset ties with the media by creating “an era of a new good feeling”, but he would not ask the US president to change his style. Scaramucci, during his introductory appearance at the White House on Friday, had expressed a desire to improve the administration’s relationship with the media, which has hit a new low over several issues, including Donald Trump’s repeated accusations that some US news outlets reported what he calls “fake news”. [caption id=“attachment_3847833” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Donald Trump. Reuters[/caption] The 53-year-old soft-speaking New York financier told two American news networks that the administration needed to deliver its message a “little bit differently”. But he added that he would not want to change Trump’s style of communication. “He is 71. We’re not going to change him. The last time I checked, he won the presidency quite handily. He’s going to win it again in 2020. He’s our guy. And so how to learn to work with and operate with him,” he told CNN. “The president likes speaking from the heart. He likes telling what he likes and he dislikes. I just think we need to deliver the messaging a little bit differently than we have been doing it in the past,” Scaramucci told the network. Appearing on Fox News, he said there was a need to reset the ties with the media and “create a more positive mojo”. Responding to a question from the interviewer, Scaramucci said he wants “the president to be the president”. “I want him to express the full nature of his personality. Corey Lewandowski used to say early on, on the campaign, ’let Trump be Trump’. My point is if he wants to talk about things like that, I’m not going to want to stop him or be able to stop him. I want to be there to help aid and abet his agenda,” he said. Though he will officially begin on 15 August, Scaramucci said he would have his first meeting with his communications team and would tell them “Hey, I don’t like these leaks. And so we’re going to stop the leaks. And, if we don’t stop the leaks, I’m going to stop you”. “In some ways, we want to deescalate things and have there be a level of diplomacy. In other ways, we want it to be very hard-hitting and war-like. So it’s sort of a blend of those two things,” he told the network. Scaramucci’s appointment as the Trump administration’s communications director coincided with the resignation of the press secretary, Sean Spicer, whose six-month controversial tenure saw several run-ins with the media. Spicer was mocked on popular television shows for his aggressive responses to journalists. Spicer reportedly resigned because he was opposed to Scaramucci, whom he had to report to as press secretary.