Forced from Obama Admin for Praising Mao, Anita Dunn to Return to White House

Alex Nester (Free Beacon)

President-elect Joe Biden will tap Anita Dunn, an Obama-administration alumna who praised Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s political philosophy, for senior White House adviser, Axios reported Friday.

Dunn’s last stint in the White House ended after just seven months, when she resigned after former Fox News anchor Glenn Beck aired a clip of the then-communications director saying Mao was one of her “favorite political philosophers.”

Dunn worked as senior adviser for the Biden campaign from 2019 until last spring when she took over its operations following a disastrous Iowa caucus showing. She then became co-chair of Biden’s transition team after his victory in November.

Dunn served as former president Barack Obama’s communications director from April to November 2009, when she resigned following controversy surrounding her comments on Mao’s determination to conquer China and establish a communist regime.

“The third lesson and tip actually come [sic] from two of my favorite political philosophers: Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa,” Dunn said during a June 2009 commencement address at St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School in Washington, D.C. “[They’re] not often coupled with each other, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you’re going to make choices…. You’re going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before.”

Mao’s communist takeover of China led to the deaths of an estimated 45 million people.

Beck first aired a clip from Dunn’s speech in October 2009. Dunn defended her comments on CNN, saying that her praise for Mao was “intended as irony.” She resigned from the White House just one month later.

Dunn caught flak more recently for providing pro bono “damage control” advice to disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, who was arrested and charged in 2018 on two counts of rape after dozens of women came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Between her time in the Obama White House and joining team Biden, Dunn worked as managing director for SKDKnickerbocker, a strategist group with ties to pro-abortion organizations such as Emily’s List, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood.