welcome to your reckoning, @SHSanders45 pic.twitter.com/alXmMbLLud
— 164 days ago Trump promised 24-hr Hezbollah answer (@MattNegrin) January 4, 2018
Yesterday’s press briefing was always going to be quite an undertaking for the Trump White House, as they’re still in the midst of defending themselves from accusations in a tell-all book, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury—purportedly backed by plenty of notes and tapes.
Janice Min, part-owner of The Hollywood Reporter, said she was a guest at a dinner party described in the book, and that every detail she’d seen about that night, so far, had been true. One of the biggest takeaways from Fire and Fury is that everyone around Trump seems to think he’s not very smart, and one of the people in question wouldn’t even deny calling Trump an idiot, instead choosing to claim that it must have been a joke.
White House lawyers tried to stop the book’s publication, but the publisher has been unfazed and even moved up the publication date in response to the attention. All that is to say that, wherever the truth lies in regard to the book, it was not a good day for Donald Trump. So, instead of just taking a short trip down the hall to join the press briefing, he delivered a message via telescreen video recording, rather than actually face the press and take questions.
He’s already been more reluctant than his predecessors to face the press in the briefing room, but this took it to a whole other level of obvious, deliberate avoidance. He also trumpeted Americans already seeing bigger paychecks because of his tax plan, which is news to … Americans.
And so, everyone served up the mocking he so richly deserved, because that’s just what’s going to happen when you present the internet with a blank to fill in. The Rick and Morty treatment above was the best by far, but here are a few more worthy entries:
President Trump addressed members of the press at yesterday’s White House Press Briefing.#JobsReport #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/9tkmiwqw5D
— Chris Dmytriw (@chrisdmytriw1) January 5, 2018
weird trump video statement during the press briefing pic.twitter.com/k0uEPVt4pw
— Alazar Moges (@zarzarbinkss) January 4, 2018
— Shane Cross (@urbostonceltics) January 4, 2018
— Feel it Tweet it!❤✋ (@LiZaisatweetie) January 5, 2018
Looks like the press briefing went well. pic.twitter.com/k2iwmKrwrb
— Adam Murray (@Atom_Murray) January 4, 2018
— Stacy Pippi Hammon (@Pippsta) January 4, 2018
Trump at today’s WH press briefing. pic.twitter.com/sPIS7rejuZ
— Nancy O’verit (@ImpeachDumpy) January 4, 2018
Max Headroom cameo was a nice touch #PressBriefing pic.twitter.com/FvFj70EK6g
— r o s e (@pnutsplace7) January 4, 2018
But as usual, President Obama’s White House photographer, Pete Souza, had the ultimate perfect response:
We deserve so much better than this, and Donald Trump is incapable of delivering it. Even today, his supporters and cohorts are trumpeting a jobs report that underperformed expectations, in stark comparison to how they reacted to much stronger numbers under President Obama:
And here is Kevin Brady’s take on a jobs report that showed a 148k gain versus one that showed a 292k gain. Two years apart, different presidents pic.twitter.com/yby29H19r7
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 5, 2018
Elsewhere, Trump-appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to throw out an Obama-era policy of staying out of the way of states that have decided to legalize marijuana. Sessions is a known marijuana opponent who seems to be looking to bring back the “war on drugs” that disproportionately affects people of color, and was designed specifically to do so. Puerto Rico is still in a dire situation, months after Hurricane Maria.
It’s no surprise that Trump would rather not open himself up to be confronted with facts while spewing his propaganda to reporters. I think Sarah Huckabee Sanders summed up our situation best when she said, “Thank you, Mr. President,” to a completely blank screen.
(image: screengrab)
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