The early-morning tweets. The perpetual leaks. The pompous arrogance. There’s little doubt that President Trump’s biggest problems are communications related, and self-inflicted at that. Even those who support his agenda can’t abide the way he talks and tweets about it.

The man doesn’t just need a great press secretary and handler. He needs a miracle worker: a communications strategist who’s been there, done that and will tell him what he needs to do and do differently straight to his face without fear for her job. Someone who will help him navigate a world that he’s obviously ill-equipped to deal with. And who wouldn’t be?

In other words, he needs someone who is eminently qualified for the job but doesn’t want or need it. That would be Dana Perino. She’s the best political communications strategist I’ve ever seen. And I’d be willing to bet that she’d rather get a lobotomy than go back to Washington (same thing). In other words, she’d be fearless.

ICYMI, Perino was press secretary during George W. Bush’s first term in office. She’s now cohost of The Five, a guest host for various Fox News primetime shows and a best-selling author. Would she even consider ditching those sweet gigs if called upon? Doubtful. I wouldn’t, not for all the vodka in Russia. But then, I’m not her.

For whatever reason, Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway are not cutting it. They’re not getting out in front of the perpetual poop parade that’s been dogging the Trump White House and keeping him from focusing on his agenda. Russia. Collusion. Impeachment. And the leaks. The constant, insidious, destructive leaks.

Not only are his staff not getting to the bottom of the leaks and getting out in front of the issues, they’re not getting out in front of Trump. Somebody needs to do that. The tweets may be great for his massive base, but that’s not who he desperately needs to court right now. He needs to court congressional Republicans.

Forget the Dems. If he can just rally his own party, he’ll get tax reform, immigration reform, healthcare reform – hell, he’ll even get his border wall with Mexico. And if that stuff doesn’t happen, he’ll be a one-term president, which means everything he does get done will get reversed in a heartbeat. And that would be a disaster for the GOP.

Whether you agree with Trump’s America First agenda or not, if there ever was a President with a mandate to shake up Washington and “drain the swamp,” this guy is it. And the only way he’s going to pull that off is if he can focus on the real issues, not the fake ones or the ones he’s created for himself.

Perino alone can help him do that, but only if he listens to her. If not, we may forever wonder if an outsider can actually fix Washington and get that dysfunctional nightmare known as the Federal Government working for the people again. The only thing we’ll know for sure is that this outsider could not.

Image credit Supper Men via Flickr