“This was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period,” said (Sean) Spicer, in one of several statements contradicted by photographs and transit data. “These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.”
Which of these pictures appears to show more people on the National Mall, the one on the left or the one on the right? No fair looking at the caption, it is not that hard a call. If I was feeling snarky and you said the one on the left had more people, I would point out that you are possibly part of a vast leftwing conspiracy promulgated by the mainstream press or something on that order.
But it is too late for that. This is real and this is the only country we have got. Up is up, down is down, black is black and white is white. This election has been vintage Orwell from the start, from "don't listen to what he says, listen to what is in his heart" to the new notion of "post truthism" and alternative facts.
In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," host Chuck Todd pressed Conway on why Spicer, who blasted the media coverage of the crowds from the White House briefing room Saturday evening, would appear "in front of the podium for the first time and utter a falsehood."The prevaricator in chief knows two bandwidths, a person is either fabulous or a mortal enemy. He is regularly called a malignant narcissist but appears to be a bit bipolar to boot.
"You're saying it's a falsehood. ... Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that," Conway said.
"Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods," Todd responded.
And he has this rich kid bullying tendency to hit back at anyone who challenges him, friend or foe alike. This may work for an emotionally dysfunctional kid on the schoolyard but when you are President of the United States, people expect you to be accountable. You can't blame everything on someone else and you should learn that there are times that one must lay back and not be so reactive.
I think this tendency will make him very easily baited. Couple this with the fact that he doesn't appear to listen to or believe what comes out of his own mouth. I predict a very short honeymoon. He has near zero credibility already and the press can get very nasty when it is pile on time.
How soon before Spicer and Conway have nervous breakdowns?
According to the NYT, Spicer was once referred to as Sean Sphincter in the newspaper at his Connecticut College.
I talked to Vlad this morning. He said he knew I would get my protest pic on the blast. Shameless self promotion. Said he was surprised I wasn't wearing a blast t- shirt*. Busted. Truth is, I looked for one, couldn't find it in the drawer. Good call.
*available in three colors, near all sizes twenty bucks. azurebirds at gmail.com
I struggled with Women's March, Womens' March, the whole possessive plural thing. They were right but I had to think about it. Woman's March I could see...
Thanks to Gogo for sending this over:
3 comments:
I watched Kellyanne.... she is a piece of work! She and Spicer are going to be the Dynamic Duo!
Apparently, TV viewership was also less than other inaugurations. I have to admit, the side-by-side pictures are really interesting. I would like to know, however, at what point before the actual inauguration each picture was taken. Hard to tell when they were taken eight years apart, but the light does look different in each one.
According to Snopes, both shots were taken 45 minutes before oath of office.
http://www.snopes.com/trump-inauguration-viewership/
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