If he’s going to carry on in this manner, it could be a long four years for Sean Spicer.
If there is such a thing as a honeymoon period for an incoming US president then it didn’t last very long for Donald Trump, although he wasn’t involved in a rather bizarre clash between the White House and the media on Saturday, the day after his inauguration.
In an address prior to what will be the first official press briefing on Monday, new White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had a few things he wanted to discuss with the media, but primarily he wanted to settle a few scores with regard to the reporting of the size of the crowds at Friday’s inauguration.
The gulf in the size of the attendance at Donald Trump’s inauguration and at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 was widely reported on Friday, with aerial photos in particular seeming to suggest that far more people had turned up for Obama’s shindig eight years ago.
Sean Spicer wasn’t at all happy about the “inaccurate” coverage of the crowds at the inauguration, claiming that photos had been doctored to prove a point and, in relation to the crowds at Trump’s inauguration on Friday, saying: “This was the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period. Both in person and around the globe.”
FULL: @seanspicer: "We're going to hold the press accountable." pic.twitter.com/nK51t16Kpf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 21, 2017
Spicer’s claims were undermined somewhat by the fact that immediately prior to making them, he had suggested that “no one had numbers” to back up reports that the crowds for Obama’s inauguration were far bigger than for Trump’s.
As well as that, according to CNN, figures quoted during Spicer’s speech about the number of people that used the D.C. Metro public transit were way off and he wasn’t prepared to take any questions immediately after the briefing.
Spicer’s confrontational approach and flawed understanding of crowd sizes were the subject of much amusement on social media afterwards.
There was this headline from CNN…
White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds https://t.co/IoYrkl6vaO pic.twitter.com/PkDOrE0e47
— CNN International (@cnni) January 21, 2017
This appeared on the big screen during a Dallas Stars ice-hockey game…
Quite the troll of Trump & @seanspicer by the @DallasStars tonight. Surprisingly edgy for a major sports team. https://t.co/ZoscKjdf4r pic.twitter.com/xdfxajITkT
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 22, 2017
And plenty of other people added in their two cents’ worth…
"Obama's crowd was small. Trump's crowd was huge but far away" – Trump Press Secretary explains inauguration attendance figures. pic.twitter.com/y2YKhdutaq
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) January 21, 2017
#SpicerFacts
"My head is not shrinking. In fact, it's the biggest head I've ever had. Period." -Sean Spicer pic.twitter.com/wbgEYVZDxp— Justin (@Justin12393LEE) January 22, 2017
Sean Spicer has just released the unedited photos from Trump's inauguration. #nofilter #spicerfacts pic.twitter.com/NlILDV5wbf
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) January 22, 2017
Guess the number of jelly beans.
Me: 87
Wife: 134
Sean Spicer: 1.5 million #spicerfacts pic.twitter.com/dq7MmhgG3H— 𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝕫𝕠𝕙𝕒𝕣 (@markzohar) January 22, 2017
It’s going to be an interesting four years alright.
