Slate - "What Happens When Trump's Rhetoric Is Too Outlandish for His Press Secretary to Defend"
by Will Oremus
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/24/why_sean_spicer_can_t_defend_trump_s_voter_fraud_claims_outright.html
Sean Spicer had to know the question was coming. President Trump had made headlines Monday night by reportedly claiming once againthis time in a meeting with congressional leadersthat fraudulent votes by illegal immigrants had cost him the popular vote. Its a wild claim for which there is no credible evidence, and which has been widely and repeatedly debunked. Breaking with its own norms, the New York Times even called it a lie. (My colleague Ben Mathis-Lilley argues thats actually the wrong word, in this instance.)
So on Tuesday, Trumps press secretary had a ready response when reporters asked him whether the president really believed that. It just wasnt a remotely satisfying one. And Spicers feeble struggle to reconcile his boss words with any semblance of reality provided an unsettling preview of the challenge the new administration will face in communicating with the country its supposed to be governinglet alone the wider world.
The president does believe that, Spicer said of the astonishing claim that the 2016 U.S. presidential election had been tainted by widespread voter fraud. He has stated that before. I think he has stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign, and he continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.
That was Spicers response to part one of ABC News reporter Cecilia Vegas question. But there was a part two: What evidence do you have?
Unfortunately, Spicer appeared to have left the answer to part two in his other pants pocket, or perhaps the glove compartment of his car. I
I
As I said before, I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has, he stammered, before trying hastily to move on. The press corps wasnt having it, and several other reporters asked follow-ups. As he fielded them, Spicer began to sound increasingly like a broken record. We learned over the course of the press conference that:
Its a belief he maintains.
Its a belief that hes maintained for a while, a concern that he has about voter fraud, and thats based on information provided to him.
It has been a longstanding belief that hes maintained.
snip -more to read.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)truth about him will be slander and be put out of business.
Fascists and Russians are in charge now, we need to realize that, whatever system or institution we relied on for democracy is gone.
Now, personally I am going to fight against them as if my life and my grandsons and granddaughters lives depend on it, because they do, but I know what has happened, how and why.
SHRED
(28,136 posts)What am I missing here?
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)poor Spicer is stuck in the middle.
Trump started a media war, Spicer is losing it.
SHRED
(28,136 posts)lapfog_1
(29,222 posts)he will have no problems lying his ass off for trump