This Guy Is Now Part Of The White House Press Corps

- Scott Johnson

Lucian Wintrich paced in front of the White House, a cellphone pinned to his ear. On the line was his boss, Jim Hoft, founder of The Gateway Pundit, a right wing blog that dabbles in conspiracy theories for the site’s 5 million monthly readers. “This makes me look like a pussy,” he muttered, “like I didn’t want to go in today.” Moments earlier, the White House had denied Wintrich access to a daily briefing with White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Wintrich, 28, suggested that Hoft pull some strings and “get in touch with Hicks or Bannon … maybe Hicks?” He was referring to President Trump’s director of strategic communications, Hope Hicks, and chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is openly contemptuous of the mainstream media.

Since Wintrich had been named the site’s first White House correspondent, he had struggled with the newness of Washington. Gay and nominally Jewish, he felt more at home in New York, where he had worked as a “creative” at a prominent ad agency and a club promoter. He dated a creative writing student and model from Colombia and took filter-heavy pictures of scantily clad teen boys. But Wintrich was no liberal. He had grown disillusioned with progressive politics during college, and his contrarian stances sharpened during the election. At the Republican National Convention, he had gathered his pictures into an exhibit called “Twinks for Trump,” in which boys sported “Make America Great Again” caps.