The Trump Administration has made no secret of its hatred for the media.
Aside from government figures — all of which, by the way, are Republicans such as Newt Gingrich, or even the more unhinged John Bolton — there has never been an administration as combative against criticism as they have.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer continued to make sure it stayed that way during his first press conference in the James Brady Briefing Room on Saturday.
Immediately after the press briefing, some sources in the media reported that the briefing had been hastily put together. But much of the focus has been on the entire purpose of the press conference, which was to slam the media for “unfair” coverage, period.
Make The Media Wait
It’s interesting that this same administration that made the White House press corps wait – a provocation for not being nicer to Trump – also has a pending “investigation” about its association with Russia, and Russia’s alleged interference in the Presidential election.
Spicer didn’t enter the room until an hour later, which would have been fine if it wasn’t for the fact that Spicer took no questions and just lambasted the media for under 15 minutes.
Mentally Unstable, Anxious Ridden Press Secretary
Spicer has been interviewed on news programs over the last year and has had plenty of moments to talk and act reasonably, but he has also thrown himself into angry fits within seconds just like Ross Geller did on Friends when he didn’t get his way.
Anyone who’s ever seen Sean Spicer in “action” must have been troubled when they learned that the worst person to take questions, Spicer, would become the official White House Press Secretary.
Much like the watching the entire Trump Campaign, Spicer showed us ahead of time just what we should expect as a response to any criticism against them.
What Sean Spicer Did
Sean Spicer claims the media inaccurately reported crowd sizes, but video footage suggests otherwise. pic.twitter.com/2fIardInCA
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 21, 2017
The entire time, he used his “outside voice” to express his disappointment with the media’s coverage of was the removal of a Martin Luther King bust from the Oval Office. He said that the reporting on it was “irresponsible and reckless.”
Spicer also took issue with number of people reported to have shown up at the inauguration, which was compared to be less than that of former President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2013.
Spicer went through a petty explanation of photographs of people at the inauguration, saying that grass coverings, fencing, and magnetometers had for the first time been placed in the national mall, making it seem as if there were not as many people there on Inauguration Day.
Spicer then decided to lay down some “facts” and went through how many people could fit in certain places around the inauguration. After this, he made a bold statement.
“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period!
Much like how former Press Secretary Josh Earnest did slow burns on Republican obstruction from the podium, Spicer went after Democrats who were holding up the appointment of Mike Pompeo to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
But this led him right into attacking the press for not covering what he wants the press to cover.
This puts Sean Spicer in league with those combative few such as Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, and Reince Priebus who have told news media what kind of stories they “should” be covering.
Trump Administration Will Crack Down On Press Freedom
Strong words from @ACLU in defence of press freedom after today's extraordinary White House press briefing pic.twitter.com/kBNuIO4tdb
— Iain Levine (@iainlevine) January 22, 2017
Much has also been said about what the new administration intends to do with the White House press corps. They’ve recently said that they were debating over moving them out of the building and putting them somewhere else.
They’ve claimed that this is so that they can make more room for the press. But given the combination of their combative nature and newly acquired power, this can only be seen as an effort on their part to keep the media that holds them accountable in the dark.
It was at this point that Spicer waged war on the media.
“The president is committed to unifying our country and that was the focus of his inaugural address. This kind of dishonesty in the media that’s challenging to bring about our nation together is making it more difficult. There’s been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald trump accountable. And I’m here to tell you that it goes two ways. We’re gonna hold the press accountable as well.”
After this, he gave updates on President Trump’s discussions to work together with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. Then he said that Trump spoke with the Prime Minister of Mexico Pena Nieto — who doesn’t exist. Unless he’s talking about President Pena Nieto?
Other updates mentioned briefings by the administration on the handling of classified information, which might be another attempt to make sure the press does not get access to any information. This is because President Trump believes that the intelligence community is leaking out this information.
He then ended the briefing and walked out the door as reporters yelled out their questions. One reporter countered his statement that there were no numbers kept for how many people were at Trump’s inauguration by yelling out her question:
“Why did you say that no one had the numbers but then you said that it was the largest audience ever?”
Watch the Press Secretary for America’s first dictator put the press on notice in the video below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
