Sean Spicer pretty much admits Trump is a LIAR! Media laughs. We’re not.
It was one of the most amazing moments we’ve ever seen during a White House press briefing.
Earlier in the day, the Labor Department released a heartening monthly jobs report stating that the U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs in February. A few hours later, during his daily press briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer was asked about previous statements made by Trump during the campaign season claiming that positive job reports under the Obama administration had been “phony or totally fiction.”
“I talked to the president prior to this, and he said to quote [the new numbers] very clearly. They may have been ‘phony’ in the past, but it’s very real now.”
Translation: Trump lied top the rubes to stoke fear and anger.
And members of the press are pissed off.
“I know it was delivered as a laugh line from Sean and got laughter in the room from reporters — I’m not so sure all of America will laugh at that,” CNN political director David Chalian said afterward. “It is an admission of blatant hypocrisy. … I mean, it’s like the most traditional politician thing you could do — which is not Donald Trump’s brand necessarily — to say that when it is not in my favor I’m going to say this, and when it is in my favor, I’m going to say that. That is the thing about politicians most people in the country don’t like. So I don’t know it is necessarily a joke. It is a total admission of blatant hypocrisy.”
“Spicer’s breezy dismissal of the question was a tacit admission that Trump had indeed lied when he trashed good employment news during the administration of his predecessor Barack Obama,” Jon Levine wrote at Mediaite. “If the fourth estate treats future administration falsehoods as a joke, they will become the fake news which they have so often been accused.”
Twitter, naturally, is full of reaction:
"They may have been phony in the past," @PressSec said of the jobs report, "but it’s very real now." Such clowns. https://t.co/0fb0KNwIk8
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) March 10, 2017
Spicer quoting Trump on jobs report: "It may have been phony then but it's real now!" Everyone laughs. So Trump's lying is funny now?!
— Don Alt Rump (@Subject2DVision) March 10, 2017
@DavidCornDC @PressSec The whole room laughed. That's part of the problem.
— Pajoly (@Pajoly) March 10, 2017
Cause everything un-Trump is "fake" and "phony" but everything Trump is "true & awesome sauce" This is just frightening. https://t.co/UQ6jrxV28k
— DavidRichardThompson (@DavidWFPF) March 10, 2017
Sean Spicer jokes jobs numbers "may have been phony" before but are real now. Press laughs. Lying is now embedded. https://t.co/JXpxDKBJE1
— glitterbitch shauna (@goldengateblond) March 10, 2017
Spicer quoting Trump on jobs report: "It may have been phony then but it's real now!" Everyone laughs. So Trump's lying is funny now?!
— Don Alt Rump (@Subject2DVision) March 10, 2017
Trump just confirmed he was undermining confidence in government data for purely cynical purposes: https://t.co/TFd5RilFeA
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 10, 2017
Jobs report was fake b4 but it's real now! @PressSec pic.twitter.com/HU2LZl4ylB
— Pat Fuller ☮️🗽🖖❄️ (@bannerite) March 10, 2017
@RyP1984 Sean Spicer is a pretty good liar too. Trump is a disaster.
— Lee E (@LeeE_76) March 10, 2017
@cspan @PressSec could the media stop with the laughing along? you're being abused. stop saying "thank you sir" & asking for more
— saradani (@saradani) March 10, 2017
Oh, one other thing:
The @PressSec broke a @WhiteHouse rule by commenting on @BLS_gov jobs data within an hour of release https://t.co/kowa3HfCPy pic.twitter.com/Y56eo2dfTq
— Sunlight Foundation (@SunFoundation) March 10, 2017
Heckuva job, Spicey!
