This has been discussed in a few threads already, but it is so amazing that Trump and his supporters felt this, of all things, merited a press conference as their first official press conference. I am guessing they will have another press conference today, thanking the millions of women showing their support for him on Saturday marking in all those pretty pink hats. WIN!
It's like they think the news manufactures reality, so controlling the news will make all the hard decisions go away.
I really thought Steve Bannon would be running the messaging, and I assume he's much, much smarter than this. 1. Either I'm wrong about Bannon's smarts, and this could be the Nixon Whitehouse on WWE steroids. or 2. Bannon can't control Trump's insecure temper when it comes to hand sizes or crowd sizes, etc. Former press secretaries said this is what happens when the boss man demands that you just read their statement for them. Ugly. Nonsensical. Even Fox news called it "surreal" and "weird."
Or Priebus, or numerous other people around him. I'm afraid now that whatever seemingly reasonable and sensible folks that surround him are afraid to speak up, due to fear of the Donald smallish, but powerful iron fist.
I think its already happening. Sunday Trump, using the Trump authored twitter account, attempted to belittle the women's march. A few hours later, a staffer obviously used the other Trump twitter account to soften Trump's earlier attack on the marchers by saying "of course, people have the right to express themselves." Trump's PR people will likely send out both messages throughout his presidency. And I think Fox news is continuing to scramble to support Trump regardless of what he says/does... but somehow a single conservative commentator had his bemused comments slip out. After all, Fox spent most of the day yesterday reporting that "thousands" were marching.
Is it safe to assume Spicer meant to say there were "metal detectors" rather than "magnetometers"? Because I have no idea what magnetometers would have to do with keeping people away.
They prevented the open carry militia nutjobs aka Trump's base from entering the Inauguration. See, if only the crazies were permitted to attend, there would have been yuge crowds.
So far in day one of his administration Trump has done nothing but lie. 1. Trump and Spicer lied about the crowd size 2. They lied about it being the first time the white grass coverings were used 3. Trump lied about him having the most Time magazine covers 4. Trump lied about the media making it seem like he didn't like the CIA. Trump compared them to Nazis. 5. Trump and Spicer lied about the press using Magnetometers to make the crowd size look smaller. They absolutely did not 6. Trump lied about the size of Thursdays concert crowd. 7. Trump lied about the possibility that it was the first one done in front of the Lincoln Memorial This is only a partial list. In one day Trump and his administration told a months worth of lies, and the crazy thing is that they are all about stuff that doesn't even matter. What does it say when they are willing to lie about such small stuff? What will happen when this administration finally decides to talk about real stuff? The funny Orwellian thing is that Trump's rep Conway called what Spicer did not lies, but "alternative facts". Luckily for once the media stuck to their guns and pointed out that "alternative facts" aren't facts at all. They are falsehoods.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/alternat...lsehoods-chuck-todd-battles-kellyanne-conway/ on the "Meet The Press" program, Todd repeatedly asked Kellyanne Conway , Trump's campaign manager, why Spicer was sent out to make a “provable falsehood” like that. Conway said this is a symbol of “the unfair and incomplete treatment” that Trump gets in the press. She said that if people in the press are going to talk about the nation’s press secretary like this, the administration may have to “rethink our relationship here.” Todd repeatedly called her out for not answering the question and told her Spicer’s false claim “undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office.” Conway shot back that he’s being “dramatic” and said that Spicer “gave alternative facts” Todd went off and responses, “Alternative facts are not facts, they’re falsehoods!” At one point she scolded Todd for laughing at her. Todd said he wasn’t laughing, he’s “just befuddled,” but Conway told him that this is once again symbolic of the unfair treatment they’re getting.
This is something I'm concerned about, based on the way Trump has approached the media so far. Jared Kushner made his bones turning The New York Observer into a tabloid while forcing out the editor. Perhaps, with Bannon's help, he has similar plans for the White House Press core. We'll see how well the freeze out and alternate universe tactics work in the upcoming days. I'm not a fan of normalizing Trump's Twitter pissyfits but it'd certainly be preferable to daily attempts to obfuscate the truth from the majority of the country who isn't buying it.
