Trump, Sean Spicer, and the Department of Truth
Donald Trump’s new Press Secretary is ‘professional angry white man’ Sean Spicer. A day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, Sean Spicer spoke to the media in a manner that suggested Trump’s anger had finally broken the 140 character limit of Twitter.
Mr Spicey, as he ought to be known, wasted no time in letting the media have it. Spicey’s conference was typical of a presidential candidate who waged war against the ‘dishonest media’ whenever the New York Times or Washington Post did the unthinkable and actually reported Trump’s own words back to him. He came to the Press Room with an axe to grind…
…photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall.
We’ve all seen the images by now, but here they are:
This was after Donald Trump predicted that his crowd size would be the biggest in U.S. history. The photos look damning, but Spicey was having none of it.
This was the first time in our nation’s history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual.
This was eloquently shouted from the trembling jowls of Spicey. Unfortunately, the floor covering probably did more to expose the sparseness of the crowd, and actually was used in 2013.
In the topmost circle there is clearly a substantial crowd on the left side in Obama’s 2009 inauguration. This is close to the front, so should be full, but it seems to have been filled up before the right hand portions. Even so, Trump’s crowd looks, well, less than Trumpy.
In the second circles on each there is a clear difference in crowd sizes, unless this cohort of Trump acolytes is hidden underneath the white covering. Lastly, in the third level, there are only one or two onlookers in the 2017 version, whereas the 2009 crowd has spilled onto this central section of the National Mall.
Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted. No one had numbers, because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out. By the way, this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of protestors today in the same fashion.
Well, O.K. Spicey but people have tried to compare the numbers and have used information from the D.C. Metro services see below. Anyway, you’re about to try and say you have numbers.
We do know a few things, so let’s go through the facts. We know that from the platform where the President was sworn in, to 4th Street, it holds about 250,000 people. From 4th Street to the media tent is about another 220,000. And from the media tent to the Washington Monument, another 250,000 people. All of this space was full when the President took the Oath of Office.
Spicey, I don’t think we can necessarily agree that this space was “full” based on the patchiness of the photos we saw, especially given the fact the left hand side was very empty. But let’s be specific.
The building circled on the right is the Smithsonian Castle. Between there and the lower circle is just some of the space required to be full for Spicey’s final 250k to be anywhere near accurate. It stands between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building, as shown below.
The lower highlighted area in the image above indicates just some of the space required to be full for Spicey’s final 250k to be anywhere near accurate. That’s a big space to have filled, considering both photos were taken at around 11 a.m. But just to be sure, let’s check this again:
We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama’s last inaugural.
Actually, Metro numbers for full inaugural day ridership were 570.5k in 2017, 782k in 2013, and 1.1 million in 2009.
This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.
Well now, at this point Spicey shouted that “period” part as if he were his boss getting snippy with Megyn Kelly. In television terms, there is no global data available as of yet, but domestic Nielson ratings show 30.6 million US viewers for Trump, compared to 37.8 million in 2009. Spicey has basically thrown in the towel on the whole ‘facts’ thing at this point, and is going full-jowl.
These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.
This isn’t what’s happening, but let’s entertain a point here. After all, it’s a weekday and most of Trump’s supporters were not found on the coasts or near the D.C. area unlike Obama. So crowd size doesn’t delegitimise his presidency, it is just another piece of evidence to show he has the emotional maturity of a ten year old.
We’re going to hold the press accountable, as well. The American people deserve better. And as long as he serves as the messenger for this incredible movement, he will take his message directly to the American people where his focus will always be.
This is where Spicey stops being a figure of fun, and starts sounding like an Orwellian nightmare.
Trump hates the media. The media stands in his way, holds him to account for what he says, and pulls him up when he gets things wrong. Tax returns, Russian hacking, the Hollywood Access tape, punishment for abortions, impersonating a disabled reporter, you name it. For what it’s worth, the media gave Hillary Clinton a hell of a time, too; keeping the email stories in the media cycle, reporting on email hacks without properly interrogating the provenance. Clinton undoubtedly had much harder media treatment than Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008.
Putting aside all his other qualities, Donald Trump has demonstrated a troubling relationship with the truth. His campaign was not so much one of spin but of an industrial production line of lies. Now he has won the election, and his feud with the media continues, it looks like Spicey here will be the head of the new ‘Department of Truth’ from the Press Room.
A Presidential monopoly on ‘the truth’? That’s worrying.
