On Saturday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer took the podium for the first time. He falsely claimed that the turnout at Trump’s inauguration was the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.” Later, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway explained that Spicer’s comment was based on “alternative facts.” These were some of Spicer’s first official remarks to reporters, and they were incorrect.
Yes, incorrect. And it was the way he did it too...with such anger and vitriol. And he was wrong. Way wrong. Alternative facts. Buckle up. This is going to be a very bumpy ride.
LATE UPDATE: Even the very conservative Weekly Standard is taking a shot at Spicer today: “Rule #1 for press relations is that you can obfuscate, you can misrepresent, you can shade the truth to a ridiculous degree, or play dumb and pretend not to know things you absolutely do know. But you can’t peddle affirmative, provable falsehoods. And it’s not because there’s some code of honor among press secretaries, but because once you’re a proven liar in public, you can’t adequately serve your principal. Every principal needs a spokesman who has the ability, in a crunch, to tell the press something important and know that they’ll be believed 100 percent, without reservation.”
