From the White House, Katie Zacharia was a disaster.

This perhaps wouldn’t matter so much if the President wasn’t about to get caned in the midterms.

It might not matter so much if the job wasn’t so important. It might not matter so much if all the others had been as disastrous as Ms Zacharia.

"Zachbot" is what one outlet called her.

Outside of letting the world know the Greek grifter had been sacked, she said nothing, knew nothing and left.

It's hard, and not hard, to see why she got the job. It's not hard because she is female and you could describe her as "pretty".

That of course under normal circumstances is not something we should be dabbling in, but these aren't normal circumstances and the Trump job machine produces an overtly disproportionate number of quite pretty woman in public rolls.

But it is hard, if you discount the looks bit, to see why a Scott Jennings didn’t get it.

Jennings is a CNN regular for the Republican side of the equation. He has worked with both Bushes and with Mitt Romney. He is experienced, he is bright and he is very articulate. If they were skills you were after and you had a “skill off" between Jennings and Zacharia, Scott is your man.

If you insist on looks, Katie Miller and Monica Crowley were in the running and Alina Habba, his lawyer, would have been if she hadn't bailed early.

The trouble with newbies is they're compared to the others, and the others included everyone from Kayleigh McEnany to Karoline Leavitt, to Sean Spicer.

Spicer was useless. Anthony Scaramucci, who technically wasn’t the Press Secretary but the Communications Director, was good but short lived because he got a case of the guilts. Read his book, it's good.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders was so good she went on to be a governor, although the lineage might have helped.

But the point is, as much as you might want to make fun of this job and the Trump White House, the truth is Leavitt was amazing. Forget politics – in her job, in selling the message and knowing her stuff, she was world class, if not in a class of her own. McEnany wasn’t far behind.

Trump has picked some brilliant operators. Unless Zacharia was having a meltdown, or Jennings was offered the job but turned it down, Trump will be losing the midterms and a press secretary by the end of November.

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At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.

The campaign: 6/10

Was this the week that we got debated out? One too many or two too many? And can you believe there are at least two more still to come?

Gangs: 1/10

May turn out to be, if not a defining moment, certainly a moment some could look back on with regret. New Zealanders hate gangs and their criminal violence. Labour needed it like a hole in the head.

Diesel: 2/10

As in the deal between Trump and Putin. It's about 10 days worth of domestic demand in America. Nothing Trump touches right now looks anything close to slick.

The All Blacks: 9/10

As fast, fiery, and complete a performance as you would ever be lucky enough to see.

Tourists: 8/10

Stats this week confirm we are officially back from Covid. Way too slow to get there, but the growth is real and it's on.

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Is it too far-fetched to ask two things:

1) Whether the campaign turned dramatically against Labour yesterday.

2) If within a 24-hour period, whatever chance they might have thought they had is now blown to smithereens.

The Greens want to fund gangs. They are unapologetic about hanging with gangs and they fail to accept the simple premise that this puts them so far outside what you would loosely call "mainstream New Zealand". It will most likely see whatever voters there are wavering between National and Labour scarper back to National.

Then if that wasn’t bad enough, David Seymour of all people decides he can live with the Opportunity Party better than he can live with being in Opposition.

Is it too big a stretch to ask whether this is not some unbelievable self-implosion by the Greens? Almost a self-sabotage attempt? Or is it more likely a group carried away by their perceived polling success that they can say and do anything they like and to hell with the consequences?

It's certainly an insight into the dynamics of the Greens. As normal as Chlöe Swarbrick might like to paint them, she looked lost, bewildered, and unable to respond in a way a normal leader would i.e. pull some of the madness into line, reject some allegations, cancel some perceptions, and stamp down some rampant madness.

She looked bereft of leadership skill.

Can we ask whether Seymour is the key to the Luxon turnaround re: Opportunity? If David can, maybe Luxon can too.

Put the two events of a singular day together and the election is over.

The math was always easier for the incumbents anyway; National on 30%, NZ First and ACT on 10% each, that's 50%. Add Opportunity and it's over an hour after the polls close.

Obviously, there are three weeks left. But in a spectacularly boring campaign, where the debates sent you to sleep and Groundhog Day had set in early, out of nowhere came an event that might well have turned the whole thing on its head.

Gangs in New Zealand are abhorrent. We hate them and we hate what they do. The Greens and the Māori Party want to hang with them, give them our money and rub them in your face.

It's Hipkins' worst nightmare.

His two partners, who are already fringe, are going full rogue on a subject that defies left and right. No one backs gangs. There isn't a single vote in them.

October 15th might just be the day Labour kissed it all goodbye.

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The US President has backed down from plans to livestream the first US military execution in 65 years.

The execution of Nidal Hasan is still going ahead in December, but Donald Trump now says many well-meaning people would rather not watch him die.

The army psychiatrist killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 and has been in a wheelchair since being shot during the incident.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking a former US Army Commander called the idea demeaning and says it would've brought the US into the dark ages.

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The week has come to an end, which means it's time for Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson to help Mike Hosking Wrap the Week that Was.

They discussed cancelled credit cards and wayward subscription services, and dug into the third week of the election campaign. Is the country over it already?

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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 16th of October, Health Minister Simeon Brown responds to the reports of delays in cancer treatments at Starship Hospital.

We get the latest on our fuel prices from Z Energy, and Will Jordan tells us how the All Blacks plan to smash the Wallabies again.

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson discuss the election campaign and whether the country is over it with three weeks left as they Wrap the Week.

Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Standards over silverware is the messaging from All Blacks camp in Sydney this weekend.

Fullback Will Jordan says Tana Umaga has led the conversation of not letting their expectations slip despite already sealing away the Bledisloe Cup.

Jordan says they're heading into their second test against the Wallabies with the same determination.

He told Mike Hosking there isn't a cup on the line, but the All Blacks legacy always is, so every test is an important one.

"We'll certainly treat it with full respect on Saturday."

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There's proof the economy is in a slow recovery mode, even if it can't be felt.

Infometrics' latest economic forecast shows economic growth —recently measured at 1.7% per annum by Stats NZ— is expected to stay above 1.5% until mid-next year.

It's predicted to accelerate to 2.2% by the end of 2027.

Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan told Mike Hosking while there has been a level of sectorial and regional discrepancy, they've started to see more lines across the economy point in the right direction.

He says manufacturing, residential and civil construction, and tourism activity are lifting as well, so it's not simply a farm driven exercise.

Kiernan says it's still a bit patchy and fuel prices are having an impact, but they're not expecting the economy to start going backwards.

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