Donald Trump Hired a New Political Director and Forgot to Tell His Campaign

Donald Trump this week hired a new national political director and forgot to tell his campaign, so things are going great over there—thanks for asking.

His new hire, former lobbyist Jim Murphy, is certainly a boldface name on the list of people who could give a shit about your ethical quandaries. According to the Daily Beast, Murphy’s greatest hits include representing—more than one!—military juntas (including Myanmar and Azerbaijan), lobbying on behalf of big tobacco, and orchestrating a climate change denial campaign paid for by Exxon. Which is all to say, he’s a perfect fit for the Trump campaign. Or maybe not.

“Never heard of him,” Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks—who has never returned one of my emails requesting comment—told the New York Times in an email Sunday after the hire was announced. Because of this, I’m fairly confident she’s not Donald Trump in a wig doing falsetto, though it still wouldn’t exactly be out of character

Trump, for his part, told supporters in a conference call Monday not to listen to “stupid information from people that aren’t so smart.” He was referring to his own employees.

It’s actually starting to make sense why he pretends to be his own spokesperson so often.