Trump’s new White House press secretary lived and worked in Beijing for about two years. You might expect her observations about China to include something about manufacturing, infrastructure, or how the country actually operates.
Instead, Katie Zacharia recalled questioning China’s rise because “they don’t even have proper toilets.”
That is an extraordinary amount of confidence to place in a bathroom review.
Apparently, the exam disappeared too
In the same interview, Zacharia explained her legal background by saying, “There’s no Chinese bar.”
China has a national legal qualification examination. Chinese nationality is a requirement to take it. Her own eligibility and the existence of the examination are two entirely different questions. Someone who worked at a Chinese law firm should be able to explain that distinction.
She subsequently confirmed that she failed the California bar exam and never retook it. Trump had introduced her as an attorney when announcing her appointment. She defended calling herself a lawyer by pointing to her law degree, international transaction experience, and advice she said she received from legal professionals.
Failing an exam happens. Following that up with a confident declaration that another country has no equivalent examination is what makes this such excellent comedy.
Apply the integration standard
I also want to apply that familiar demand about immigrants integrating into their host society.
Fine. Apply it to Americans abroad too.
If you move to China, work there, and benefit from the opportunities available there, how much responsibility do you have to understand the place before dismissing it?
Two years abroad gives you experience. What you learn depends on your curiosity, your willingness to listen, and whether you treat unfamiliar things as something to understand or something beneath you.
Katie, was the problem really China’s future? Or did you encounter a squat toilet and decide the entire country had reached its developmental limit?
She passed the audition
Zacharia offered another revealing detail: she described her television appearances as an audition for Trump. She tracked his priorities and went on television to discuss them, hoping he would notice and recruit her.
That tells me more about this appointment than the failed exam does.
The person behind the White House podium has to explain an administration’s decisions under scrutiny. Yet the audition she described was about catching one man’s attention by delivering the messages he wanted amplified.
You know what? I’m just gonna say it. America needs more people like Katie. Live in China for two years, come back talking about toilets, fail the bar exam, and land behind the White House podium.
That’s how you make America great again. Just get more people like Katie into the White House.
Keep going, Donald. The rest of the world is watching. Some of us are even taking notes.
