On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders decided to open the press briefing not with an acknowledgement of the FBI indictments of two former Trump campaign members, but with an analogy about beer.
The strange story, which meant to illustrate why the wealthy get higher tax breaks than the rest of the country, centered around 10 reporters who regularly go out for beers, and then split the tab roughly according to the American tax code. When the bar owner decides to give them $20 off their $100 nightly tab, things go awry.
Naturally, Twitter users were perplexed not only by the press secretary's bizarre analogy and attempts at humor, but also at her timing.
"Sarah Sanders is opening the press briefing with a word problem," user Britni Danielle wrote. "Girl, this ain't math class. GET TO THE QUESTIONS ABOUT MANAFORT."
"On day of bad news for Trump Administaiton, Huckabee Sanders starts off the #PressBriefing with two bad jokes," another tweeted.
"Seriously. Huckabee Sanders is reading a prepared story insulting reporters and touting tax reform," journalist Jared Yates Sexton wrote. "How. Does. This. Happen."
Check out some of the best responses to Huckabee Sanders' strange opening below.
What the hell is Sarah Huckabee Sanders talking about? 2 Trump associates indicted, 1 plead guilty and she’s singing “99 Beers on the Wall”🍺— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@Ana Navarro-Cárdenas) 1509385071.0
Really enjoyed Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ rousing rendition of "Twas the night before taxes..."— Full Frontal (@Full Frontal) 1509385217.0
Sarah Huckabee Sanders trying to make jokes today, but her voice is shaking and the jokes are falling flat. Reporters not biting today.— Sarah Reese Jones (@Sarah Reese Jones) 1509384960.0
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is stuttering & her opening is a off the hinges even more than usual. The Paul Manafort indictment whiplash? Lovely.— Ricky Davila (@Ricky Davila) 1509385053.0
I'm still not over Sarah Huckabee Sanders starting her briefing w/ a storybook fairytale about taxes. This WH is unhinged. #IndictmentDay— Ricky Davila (@Ricky Davila) 1509385759.0
Apparently the moral of Aesop's Fallacy Fables with Sarah Huckabee Sanders is that everyone but the top 1% are horrible, stupid people.— Emerson Collins (@Emerson Collins) 1509385170.0
HUCKABEE-SANDERS: A farmer has to get a fox, a chicken, and a tax reform bill across a river, but can only fit one at a time in his boat.— big time influencer guy on here (@big time influencer guy on here) 1509385180.0
Sarah Huckabee Sanders would be considered insanely bad at her job if her intended audience weren't people with the acuity of farm animals— Bruce Arthur (@Bruce Arthur) 1509385909.0
Is Sarah Sanders giving us a third grade math problem to solve is this really happening— Sarah Colonna (@Sarah Colonna) 1509385056.0
As far as I can tell Sarah Sanders has had a complete mental break and now lives in a completely imaginary (verbose) world.— David Rothkopf (@David Rothkopf) 1509385067.0
what is this sarah huckabee sanders story? it's like an email forward from 1997 rewrite of atlas shrugged— Erin We're Screaming Merry Christmas Again Ryan (@Erin We're Screaming Merry Christmas Again Ryan) 1509385140.0
Sorry, but what the fuck is Sarah Huckabee Sanders doing right now?— Eric Haywood (@Eric Haywood) 1509385149.0
wtf is sarah sanders even talking about right now— Teen Daze (@Teen Daze) 1509385158.0
Seems Sarah Huckerby-Sanders is reading out Donald Trump’s IQ test Questions in the hope someone understands it.— Bethany Black 🏳️⚧️ twitch.tv/beffernieblack (@Bethany Black 🏳️⚧️ twitch.tv/beffernieblack) 1509385169.0
If you just watched Sarah Huckabee Sanders press conference, you are now dumber.— Scott Dworkin (@Scott Dworkin) 1509386781.0
Sarah Huckabee Sanders just gave the most mindless beer analogy. https://t.co/8KmR0r640k— Painfully 𝙾𝚋𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 (@Painfully 𝙾𝚋𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜) 1509385093.0
*Paul Manafort & George Papadopoulos indicted* Sarah Huckabee Sanders: "Three reporters walk into a bar..." What?… https://t.co/GNuMMneFY4— Savannah L. Barker (@Savannah L. Barker) 1509385118.0
