One of the odder low-level differences between the last presidential administration and this one? The weird, hostile press releases. As nationwide protests again today sprout up in opposition to the great orange doofus' ban on refugees, immigrants and other legal travelers from Muslim nations, Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office is sending out press releases praising what he and other denizens of the White House said on the Sunday shows.
The oddest part about it is that it seems designed to draw attention to how every one of the buggers has memorized the same rote talking point.
PRIEBUS: “[...] It wasn't chaos. The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States yesterday and 109 people were detained for further questioning. Most of those people were moved out. We've got a couple dozen more that remain, and I would suspect as long as they're not awful people that they will move through before another half a day today and perhaps some of these people should be detained further, and if they're folks that shouldn't be in this country they're going to be detained. So apologize for nothing here.” [...]
SPICER: “Let’s look at the facts of what happened. There’s 325,000 people from foreign countries that traveled into the United States yesterday. There were 109 people that this (Executive Order) actually addressed, that had come in post-entry from seven countries that we've identified. [...]”
Good boy, Reince! You get a cracker. And yes, government action aimed at a specific minority is going to mostly impact that minority. You have made a great discovery.
The rest of the "press release" included quotes about how mean people are mean, which is the only thing Kellyanne Conway ever devotes herself to:
CONWAY: “[...] If past is prologue, the way the Democrats in the Senate have treated our cabinet nominees does not bode well for filling that vacancy left by Antonin Scalia. It's just been terrible the way they try to humiliate and embarrass our cabinet nominees.”
Leni Riefenstahl appears to be serious here. She's quite upset about all this opposition to presidential nominations. And the insults!
CONWAY: “You can't put a piece of tissue paper between the way Donald Trump was covered as the Republican candidate, the Republican nominee, the President-Elect, and the President. It's all the same. It's an anti-Trump screed.”
There never, at any point in time, been a point where Trump and his staff have felt they were getting properly compliant behavior from the press. They have felt wronged at every paranoid turn, during every free Trump appearance, throughout every nationally broadcast for-no-good-reason Trump rally, and after each reporter asks each question. This truly is the Snowflake Presidency. Donald Trump entered the political arena opining that the sitting president was not a real American and that his past achievements were doctored or phony; he spent the campaign raging against his other opponents with accusation after accusation and insult after insult. And now he's furious that he, as president, is still getting criticized in public, and sending out twits like Conway to whine insufferably about it.
This is the White House's own readout of the "top highlights" of the Sunday shows. This is what they thought was most important to get out there. And it's all yelling and pouting and repeating each others' talking points.
The full text is below. As I said, it’s just … strange.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2017
Top Highlights from the Sunday Shows
On The President’s Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry
White House Chief Of Staff Reince Priebus On NBC’s “Meet The Press”: The Trump Administration Will “Apologize For Nothing Here.”
PRIEBUS: “I don't think you want a grace period, Chuck, because then people who want to do bad things to Americans would just move up their travel date two days in order to get into the country before the grace period is over. I think it's one of these things that-- and if you ask a lot of the people at the customs and border patrol would just tell you you’ve got to just rip off the Band-Aid and you have to move forward. It wasn't chaos. The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States yesterday and 109 people were detained for further questioning. Most of those people were moved out. We've got a couple dozen more that remain, and I would suspect as long as they're not awful people that they will move through before another half a day today and perhaps some of these people should be detained further, and if they're folks that shouldn't be in this country they're going to be detained. So apologize for nothing here.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer On ABC’s “This Week”: We Must “Ensure That The People That We're Letting Into Our Country Are Coming Here With Peaceful Purposes And Not To Do Us Harm.”
SPICER: “Let’s look at the facts of what happened. There’s 325,000 people from foreign countries that traveled into the United States yesterday. There were 109 people that this (Executive Order) actually addressed, that had come in post-entry from seven countries that we've identified. In fact, actually, the Obama Administration had previously identified (those seven countries) needed further travel restrictions. We've gone in, as Terry pointed out, it's a 90-day ban to ensure that we have further vetting restrictions so that we know who is coming to this country. The safety of the American citizens, the safety of our country has got to be paramount. And that's what the President did yesterday, is to ensure that the people that we're letting into our country are coming here with peaceful purposes and not to do us harm. So this really comes down to 109 people who are all being processed through the system to make sure that when they've gone out of the country, gone somewhere that is one of those seven countries and coming back, that they've done so and not tried to go there and do anything that would cause our nation harm.”
On The President Keeping His Promises
Conway On Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: “There's A Fundamental Fairness That Donald Trump Ran, Won On And Will Execute” On.
CONWAY: “There's a fundamental fairness that Donald Trump ran, won on and will execute as President of the United States. You saw it already this week. He’s meeting with manufacturing CEOs, labor, he’s doing the Dakota and Keystone pipelines. And he's telling Mexico that this trade imbalance stops. This idea that we’re always worried about the other country, we’re always worried about its citizens. This President says ‘America First.’”
Spicer On ABC’s “This Week”: President Trump Is Successfully Doing What He Promised The American People He Would Do.
SPICER: “Look, this is nothing new. President Trump talked about this throughout the campaign and the transition and he's doing exactly what he told the American people he was going to do. It's interesting, the criticism that's coming is from someone who has gotten into office, hit the ground running, had a flurry of activity to do exactly what he said he was going to do. Whether it was bringing back jobs, fighting for American taxpayers and cutting the cost and waste out of government programs, or doing what he said overseas in protecting this nation but he is not going to apologize for putting the safety of this country first and foremost.”
On The Hostile Treatment Of The President’s Nominees By Senate Democrats
Counselor To The President Kellyanne Conway On Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: Democrats Have Been Trying “To Humiliate And Embarrass Our Cabinet Nominees.”
CONWAY: “Here's the thing about the Supreme Court battle we’re about to face. If past is prologue, the way the Democrats in the Senate have treated our cabinet nominees does not bode well for filling that vacancy left by Antonin Scalia. It's just been terrible the way they try to humiliate and embarrass our cabinet nominees. We still don’t have a Secretary of Commerce, a Secretary of Treasury. What are we doing over there?”
On The Hostile Treatment Of This President By The Media
Counselor To The President Kellyanne Conway On Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: The Media Is “An Anti-Trump Screed.”
CONWAY: “You can't put a piece of tissue paper between the way Donald Trump was covered as the Republican candidate, the Republican nominee, the President-Elect, and the President. It's all the same. It's an anti-Trump screed.”
###