Coming off a weekend of Trump tweets bemoaning the thousands of "paid" protesters who took to the streets pushing to see Trump's tax returns, White House press secretary Sean Spicer was just as responsive as never—as in, people might "never" see Donald Trump's tax returns.
Continuing in that tundra of transparency, Spicer rolled out the frayed fallacy that Trump's taxes can't be released while he's under audit. It's now been 419 days since Trump first floated that diversion on February 26, 2016, journalist Brad Jaffy noted. In fact, asked if Trump would authorize the IRS to confirm that he's under audit and offer details about the process and how long it might take, Spicer dished up one of his favorite go-tos—the unintelligible.
"I think the president's view on this has been very clear from the campaign ..."
We’ll take that as a “no” on authorizing the IRS to discuss the audit that might “never” end. Thanks, Spicey.
In other noteworthy non-answers:
Except Obama’s, which released around 6 million names—otherwise known as "faux" transparency, according to Spicer. On Turkey’s further evolution toward authoritarian rule:
And on Trump articulating any sort of comprehensible policy toward North Korea: Nope.
The drawing of red lines really hasn't worked in the past. He holds his cards close to the vest and you're not going to see him telegraphing how he's going to respond to any military or other situation going forward. That's just something he believes has not served us well in the past. We did this with Mosul. We start to talk about what the reaction will be months and advance, and it really gives the intended recipient of action a heads up as to what's going on. So I don't think that you're going to see the president drawing red lines in the sand, but I think that the action that he took in Syria shows that when appropriate, this president will take decisive action.
Great. The only thing way way way worse than drawing a red line and then not acting on its crossing is not drawing a red line—and then taking “decisive action” at random. Frankly, this last part is worth a whole ‘nother post.
Watch Spicer’s “never” response below: