Former White House Press Secretary visits Spa City
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Sean Spicer spent Wednesday signing books, visiting Saratoga Race Course and attending a political event.
About 60 people attended Spicer’s book signing at Northshire Bookstore as the former White House Press Secretary continued his book tour.
The reception for Spicer was welcoming then, but later in the day protesters stood outside a house on Union Avenue during a Saratoga County Republican Committee event. Spicer didn’t arrive through the front, but he could be seen in the backyard of the home. Protesters brought signs, chanted and brought an inflatable 20-foot chicken that was meant to resemble Spicer’s former boss, President Donald Trump.
Spicer, who resigned from his position in President Trump’s administration in July 2017, published “The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President,” which details his time at the White House, last month.
At the book signing Wednesday, attendees received a hardcover copy of the book before Spicer signed copies throughout the morning.
Children, teenagers and adults alike made up the crowd. Soon-to-be 10th grader, Meg Messitt, was one of the first to have a book signed. As a freshman at Saratoga Springs High School, Messitt founded a Republican club with her classmate.
“Being in the club really got me more into politics, and I’ve met so many cool people. Having Sean Spicer come here today is just really amazing,” said Messitt. “We started it because there was a lot of bias in our school and we wanted to create an atmosphere where Republicans can get together and could talk freely and do what they wanted,”
Jodie Loonan, from Queensbury, made the trip with her son Wallace, who just celebrated a birthday.
“To meet a former press secretary is awesome,” said Loonan as she waited in line. “I’ve never met one, so this is great.”
Spicer, who didn’t speak to the crowd but did take questions from reporters following the signing, reacted to the crowds he has received during his multistate book tour.
“There’s a bunch of groups. You saw a lot of folks that are here that are Trump supporters that watched me in the briefings. There are a lot of folks that have come out and said I’m a Democrat, or ‘I’m not so much of a supporter but I was interested in your story,’ or ‘I appreciate the service to our country,’” said Spicer. “It’s been fascinating to see the full spectrum of individuals that come out. Some of them just come out because they’re intrigued in what’s been going on the last couple of years and want to gain a greater insight.”
At the wake of Omarosa Manigault Newman releasing her book “Unhinged,” Spicer criticized the former Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump White House.
“In this particular case I find it unsettling that someone would take a position of trust like that and then go out and frankly abuse it on multiple levels: whether it’s recording individuals going into a secure area, or bringing a personal recording device, which in some potential way a threat to National Security,” said Spicer. “I think it’s troubling in many ways, and it speaks really to the character that she has in terms of someone who is using this as an opportunity to immediately flip, days after she praised the president and his actions and his agenda.”
Some who attended Wednesday’s book signing wore Make America Great Again hats and T-shirts. Many said they were there to thank Spicer as well as learn more about his inside story of working with the president.
“I thought he was a brave and courageous in all of the White House press briefings in standing up to a tough audience every time he got up on podium,” said Matt Garabedian, from Clifton Park. “I’m very delighted for his service, and I want congratulate him for his service to our country.”
Garabedian has been a fan of the Trump administration.
“I’m in favor of the direction the country is headed,” said Garabedian. “I don’t think that they get the recognition that often times they deserve because for whatever reason people get focused on tangents and not looking at what’s actually happening behind the scenes with the different departments, different agencies and how that’s going to change and make the lives for Americans better as we move forward.”
At the protest later Wednesday, Joe Seeman, of Saratoga Progressive Action, led the group of over 50 people, criticizing the current administration, the GOP and Spicer.
“Treason is not OK. Never in American history has a president been elected with the interference of an enemy, foreign fascist dictator,” said Seeman. “This is not normal. This is not business as usual. This is un-American.”
Saratoga Progressive Action decided to protest the Saratoga County Republican Committee event instead of the book signing.
“This is a fundraiser,” Seeman said at the committee event. “You got lobbyists, representatives of the rich and the entire treasonous scam of the Republican party. Their racism [and] all of their lies are all part of helping the billionaires rob the rest of America.”