In case you missed it in amongst all the other events of the weekend, the administration of President Trump (that’s never going to feel right to type) had its first burst of outward batshit insanity all of a day into their inglorious reign.
.@seanspicer‘s presser yesterday IN FULL: “We’re going to hold the press accountable.” pic.twitter.com/T0dx6pMGvM
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 22, 2017
There’s a lot going on there that’s blatantly incorrect, but by-and-large the biggest glaring false claims were:
- That the crowd stretched out to the Washington Monument when Trump took the oath of office (it didn’t).
- That more trips were taken on the Washington Metro rail system on Trump’s inauguration day (420k, their claim) than for President Obama’s second inaugural in 2013 (317k). The reality being that Washington Metro doesn’t count individual users, rather individual trips (meaning people taking more than one trip in a day are counted multiple times), and that Trump’s inauguration day actually drew in a demand of 570,557 trips on the metro, versus the 782,000 in the 20 hour period around Obama’s last inauguration.
- That the reason the crowds looked thin in photos is because white covering was used on the National Mall grass, making gaps more apparent (fucking what?)
Trump’s Press Secretary @seanspicer just made a statement about crowd sizes and was so mad, he was sputtering. Sounded a little triggered. pic.twitter.com/G9oe2Y5ipI
— shauna (@goldengateblond) January 21, 2017
Pro-Trump media has come out swinging for the fences, and even Fox News is having a hard time getting straight answers from Trump staffers.
“It’s really not about crowd size. What it’s about is honesty in the media. What it’s about is on Day One after winning this election and President Trump talking about bringing America together … however, the media from Day One has been talking about delegitimising the election, talking about the Russians, talking about everything you can imagine except for the fact that we need to move this country forward.”
But the real kicker, the bloody pièce de résistance, came from Trump Counselor, Kellyanne Conway, who on ‘Meet The Press‘ insisted that Spicer was absolutely not lying and was, instead, merely presenting “alternative facts.”
“‘Alternative facts’ are not facts. They’re falsehoods.” @chucktodd goes after Kellyanne Conway here, rightfully. pic.twitter.com/grPzKUXC3R
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 22, 2017
Alternative facts. Facts that are alternative to your standard, provable facts.
keep it up mang, I got all night pic.twitter.com/Jzi1TA2H6p
— Patricia Lockwood (@TriciaLockwood) January 22, 2017
And then there’s the far more serious analysis of what such a dialogue from the office of President can achieve:
Re Spicer’s lies, this is from someone who worked in a past administration. Important read. pic.twitter.com/XrjLJHRAGL
— Anna Rascouët-Paz (@rascouet) January 22, 2017
That, truthfully, should terrify everyone.
Photo: The Washington Post/Getty.
