In a slew of tweets issued early Friday morning, President Trump threatened to end the longstanding tradition of daily press briefings between the White House Press Secretary and members of the White House press.
To explain his hopes to blur the lines of transparency even further, President Trump blamed the dishonest press for being too hard on his press secretary and deputy press secretary after the Deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly botched the handling of Comey-related questions.
In his tweet, Trump argued that releasing official statements rather than holding the daily briefings would be more accurate.
As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
…Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future “press briefings” and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
Trump’s claim that it is for the sake of “accuracy,” is simply a convenient misdirection. The truth is that it is impossible to give an “accurate” description of White House actions and conduct because the narrative changes minute by minute. White House surrogates are unable to keep up with the latest narrative because Trump is constantly contradicting himself and anyone else who hopes to protect him.
Regardless of who is standing at the press podium – be it Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, or Trump himself, the issue isn’t that the press is being too mean or “fake,” but that there is no truth in this administration.
Allowing Trump to end the daily press briefings means that an already secretive White House will become even more so. Until now, the briefings have been the media’s (and public at large) best opportunity to learn about the beliefs and actions of the President. As much as Spicer and Sanders lie each day, at least the lines of communication are open.
If Trump were to succeed in slamming shut that long-established door, it would be yet another dark step toward authoritarianism and a suppressed, in-the-dark press.
