Sean Spicer just held his first White House press briefing and it was quite a show. It was a teeth gritting, spittle flying tirade against the media for…reporting actual facts. Spicer called a special Whitehouse briefing on Saturday evening to lie; not just regular lying, but big time, clearly debunked, bald face lying in a very loud voice and then stalking off the stage like a rejected talent show participant, taking no questions.
He’s pissed that a reporter mistakenly had reported that the bust of MLK had been removed from the Oval Office. Well, EEEEXXXXXCCCCCCUUUUUSSSSSSEEEEE MMMMEEEEEE. Said reporter made an honest mistake and immediately apologized for it.
Worse yet, Spicer then continued to rant, accusing the press of lying about the size of the crowd at the inauguration. That’s right, the WH press secretary used his first press briefing to castigate the press for lying about the size of the crowd at his boss’s inauguration – by lying about the size of the crowd at the inauguration. It was like watching a skit straight out of Saturday Night Live.
Here are the facts: Barack Obama’s inauguration was the largest event ever held on the Mall in DC. Ever. Trump’s inauguration was 1/3 the size of the Women’s March on Washington yesterday. Those are the facts, irrefutable and supported by crowd analysis by scientist, bus parking pass numbers, and DC Metro ridership numbers.
What is this about? It’s not about the size of the crowd at the inauguration. It’s about setting the ground rules for how the Cheeto administration is going to try to control the press. It’s reminiscent of the tactics of GWB’s administration attempt to control the press and meaner than Nixon’s dislike of the press. I think of this as an attempt to control the Cheeto message through any means, including bald-faced lies since 1/3 of the electorate will believe it, no matter the actual content of the lie.
The only way the press can defend itself from this assault on the Fourth Estate is a better offense – the must band together and demand accountability. They can’t lay back and allow a fellow journalist to get publicly eviscerated by this administration. They must public defend one another to ward off this assault on our society.
In the meantime, my advice to Sean Spicer? Buy a suit that fits, dumbass. (sorry Momma) You’re WH press secretary, not a fake professional wrestling announcer. Oh, wait.