Sean Spicer admitted Trump lied about ‘phony’ job numbers and reporters laughed it off. Now people are furious
The White House press corps erupted in laughter when White House press secretary Sean Spicer admitted that President Donald Trump doesn’t really believe that job reports from the Labor Department are fake.
The Labor Department on Friday released a strong jobs report showing the US economy added 235,000 jobs in February. During his White House press briefing later in the day, Spicer was asked about Trump’s previous claims that positive job reports under the Obama administration were “phony or totally fiction.”
“I talked to the president prior to this, and he said to quote them very clearly. They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now,” Spicer replied, prompting laughter from reporters in the room.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
Given the reaction on Twitter, many Americans were in fact not laughing:
glad everyone just laughs off trump being a pathological liar https://t.co/eKqLvkTKZH
— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) March 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/DavidWFPF/status/840290257178251264
He also lets us know when job numbers are real and when he lies about them. So let's just laugh it off and continue to laugh at trump's lies https://t.co/PiXmFb6J0G
— MJiAmTheResistance (@mjcastro360) March 10, 2017
.@PressSec quotes Trump on jobs report: "They may have been phony in the past but they are very real now." Laughs. Just a joke. Deplorable.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 10, 2017
@voxdotcom I'm outraged, offended, saddened and more hopeless- are all the reports in on the joke? Making a mockery of the American public
— Zoe Hess (@ZoeHess13) March 10, 2017
@MSNBC This administration is an abusive relationship with the American psyche. Everything is bad in life until they tell you it's good. pic.twitter.com/mALFeiuzVO
— Michael J Lando (@MJL_Uncensored) March 10, 2017
@MSNBC Real funny–everyone accepting that our President is a serial liar & does so when it fits his own view of alt-reality. Ha-Ha-Ha.
— Hari Bhajan Khalsa (@HariBK) March 10, 2017
@MSNBC I don't know what is more appalling, him saying it or the press all laughing at that absurdity.
— Nate Mcg (@gamer_politics) 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
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
Trump just confirmed he was undermining confidence in government data for purely cynical purposes: https://t.co/TFd5RilFeA
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 10, 2017
2020 Election
Paul Krugman issues dire warning about next four months under Trump
In his column for the New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman expressed dismay that -- even with coronavirus infection rates going through the roof across the country --Donald Trump is still acting like the health crisis is over and Americans should return to their normal lives.
Noting that Vice President Mike Pence recently penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal proclaiming, “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave',” the columnist was gobsmacked by the Trump administration's "delusions and magical thinking that have marked every step of the Trump administration’s response to Covid-19."
On CNN Friday, Dr. Celine Grounder tore into President Donald Trump's ongoing falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic.
"No matter how many times public health officials, especially like Anthony Fauci, speak the truth, what does it do, Doctor, when the president continues to lie to the public in face of a public health crisis?" asked anchor Kate Bolduan.
"This is gaslighting on an enormous scale, and means until people eventually get sick or their family members get sick, the communities hit hard, they won't believe it, and then it will be too late," said Grounder. "The problem is there's a lag period from the time that somebody's infected and starts to develop symptoms a couple days later. We don't see people get severely sick and need to be hospitalized and in ICUs until a week into disease, and talking about probably one to two weeks of lag time from the time somebody's exposed at least before you start to see hospitalizations and then another couple weeks before you start to see deaths."
2020 Election
Republicans ‘anxious’ as campaign aides observe ‘a sudden alertness’ in Trump that he is losing: report
Republican are growing increasingly worried about President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, according to a new report in Politico.
“I’d say Republicans are feeling anxious, and there’s a real sense of urgency for the president to precisely define his second term agenda. What are we running on? His answers on that have been lacking and he needs to show people why he wants four more years,” Scott Jennings, a top political adviser in the George W. Bush White House, told the publication.
‘Must really hate yourself’: Kellyanne Conway’s daughter Claudia wonders how any woman could support Trump
An obvious explanation for Trump’s subservience to Putin is staring us in the face
Eric Trump mocked for tweeting image of Ghislaine Maxwell with Clintons — when his dad hung out with her repeatedly
Conservative writer reveals Biden’s hidden ‘superpower’ against all of Trump’s attacks
GOP Senate candidate suspended football player for one game — for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl: report
Paul Krugman issues dire warning about next four months under Trump
‘Gaslighting on a massive scale’: Doctor warns Trump is lying us into a COVID disaster
Republicans ‘anxious’ as campaign aides observe ‘a sudden alertness’ in Trump that he is losing: report
Trump campaign spokesperson pushes Mt. Rushmore meme that adds president to monument
Katie Porter demands resignation of Trump small business chief for enabling ‘abuse’ of Covid-19 relief funds
‘Gaslighting on a massive scale’: Doctor warns Trump is lying us into a COVID disaster
Katie Porter demands resignation of Trump small business chief for enabling ‘abuse’ of Covid-19 relief funds
‘We’ve got to get a new guy’: Florida Trump voters lash out at the president as they flee the GOP
CNBC founder claims Trump has a specific plan in hand to stay in office no matter what the voters decide
