January 23, 2017

Liveblogging Sean Spicer’s First Press Briefing

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Sean Spicer is holding his first press conference today. The first three questions go to the New York Post, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Fox News. They all ask softball questions.

How about those reports that US planes are attacking ISIS in collaboration with the Russians? Spicer refuses to deny it even though the Pentagon has already called the claim “rubbish.”

Finally someone asks about Spicer’s debacle on Saturday. It turns out that Spicer is upset about anyone questioning his integrity and claims that everything he said on Saturday was based on the best information at the time. Furthermore, he stands by his statement that Trump’s inauguration was the most watched of all time. Sure, Reagan had 41 million viewers, but Reagan didn’t have YouTube.1 Once you add in that, plus Facebook and smartphones and all that stuff, then Trump kicked Reagan’s ass, amirite?

Then Spicer refuses to say what the unemployment rate is. There’s a lot of different statistics out there, and anyway, Trump prefers to think of people, not faceless statistics. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

What is Trump going to do about climate change? “He’s going to meet with his team.”

What are Trump’s first three legislative priorities? Immigration, tax reform, regulatory reform. And that’s not just the wall, either. We need a complete immigration overhaul.

Trump has no immediate plans to revoke DACA, the “mini-DREAM” act signed by President Obama. I wonder what the immigration hawks think of this?

What kind of relationship does Trump plan with China? “He understands what a big market that is.” Okey doke.

Spicer is now denying that the cheers during Trump’s CIA speech were mostly coming from folks that he brought along. “Just listen to the cheers. It was more than a few people.”

I guess this could last forever, and I’m getting hungry. My professionalism has a limit, and it’s now been reached. Spicer is droning on about the perfidy of the press and how Trump always outperforms people’s expectations. Then we hear yet again about his outrage over the incorrect reporting regarding the MLK bust in the Oval Office. Spicer now claiming that Trump is treated way worse that any other president in history. Blah blah blah. That’s it for me.

1This is pretty much a direct quote: “Reagan didn’t have YouTube.”

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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