WAR ON TRUTH
Team Trump touts ‘alternative facts’ Defends fibs, vows to fight media
THE TRUMP administration is creating an “alternative” reality.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday the Trump team is offering “alternative facts” to media reports about President Trump’s inauguration. She and others in the administration also vowed a constant battle with the press over Trump coverage — including even the simplest facts.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Conway hinted the Trump administration will get even tougher in its treatment of reporters.
“I think we’re going to have to rethink our relationship here,” she said.
On “Fox News Sunday,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said the administration is going to “fight back tooth and nail every day” with the press.
“There is an obsession by the media to delegitimize this President,” he said. “We are not going to sit around and let it happen.”
The root of this latest feud is reports on the size of the crowds at Trump’s inauguration this past Friday.
viewersHis oathon televisionof office — drewthe third-largest31 million viewership for a presidential inauguration — but the crowd in Washington was relatively underwhelming.
Aerial photos showed considerable gaps in the throng on the National Mall compared with President Barack Obama’s first oath of office.
The masses at the Women’s March protest in D.C. on Saturday also far outnumbered the inauguration crowd from the previous day.
Estimates showed that the march drew three times more people — about 500,000 — than Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
But the White House flat out refused to accept those numbers.
On Saturday, press secretary Sean Spicer devoted his first White House briefing to shaming the media for accurately reporting on the inauguration draw.
“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period — both in person and around the globe,” Spicer said in a briefing that ended without him taking questions. “These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.” He swore to “hold the press accountable” for supposed wrong-doing. Conway refused to acknowledge that Spicer fudged facts in his conference — and instead said he merely offered “alternative facts.” “You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” she said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” The host, Chuck Todd, seemed clearly confused about the term — and pointed out that Spicer’s speech was peppered with factual errors. “Look, alternative facts are not facts,” Todd told Conway. “They’re falsehoods.”
The hashtag “Alternative Facts” became the top trending topic on Twitter.
“Less than 48 hours after the Inauguration, the Trump Administration is asking America to believe ‘alternative facts,’ ” PEN America tweeted.
Others turned it into a joke, and started posting anything they wanted to be true.
“Hillary is president right now. I choose to believe this. #alternativefacts,” the account for “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” posted. Even former CBS News anchor Dan Rather trashed the Trump administration, and slammed Spicer on social media. “These are not normal times,” Rather said in a post on Facebook. “What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. A lie, is a lie, is a lie!” Trump has obsessively attacked the media as a candidate and as President, calling reporters “dishonest” and “scum” and threatening to “open up” libel laws.
He even kept the conflict going during a talk with the CIA on Saturday, in which he said he was in a “running war” with the media.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering kicking the press out of the White House and holding briefings in a larger venue. Trump had an otherwise low-key second day in office, overseeing the swearing-in of his senior staff — including Conway, Priebus and senior White House strategist Stephen Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News. He also swore in his son-in-law Jared Kushner,
You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And Sean Spicer ... gave alternative facts to that. KELLYANNE CONWAY (LEFT) ON “MEET THE PRESS”
who will serve as an adviser.
Trump also told his top advisers that they’re in the White House not to “help ourselves” but to “devote ourselves to the national good.”
“This is not about party, this is not about ideology. This is about country, our country. It’s about serving the American people,” he said.
At the same gathering, Trump said he plans to discuss immigration and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement when he meets with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The White House said the meeting will take place Jan. 31.
Trump ran for office on a pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and have Mexico pay for it. He would only say Sunday that Mexico has “been terrific.”
Meanwhile, Trump is expected to meet with bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House on Monday night, a person familiar with plans for the meeting told The Associated Press.
Spicer has scheduled a 1:30 p.m. press briefing Monday.