ulia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Any remaining skepticism of America’s literacy crisis vanished Tuesday morning, when Katie Zacharia, a former TV political commentator, stepped up to the White House podium for her first briefing as President Trump’s new press secretary.

It is from this esteemed perch that Zacharia appeared physically strained as she struggled to deliver prepared remarks, as if the task of reading was too much to endure. In other moments, Zacharia sighed heavily. As for the content of her remarks, they fit the usual Trumpian bill, with Zacharia vacillating between thanking the president for anointing her with a dream job and portraying Trump’s job performance as overwhelmingly positive.

But the overtly propagandistic notes took a backseat to Zacharia’s first-day performance, which even included the error of referring to her husband as “my president.” By turns halting and anxious, it made Karoline Leavitt, who resigned in September, seem like a rhetorical genius.