Newly-minted White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told the reporters Monday that it’s “demoralizing” for the media to try to “undercut” President Donald Trump.
When CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Spicer today why he was so adamant about “making an issue” of the size of the crowds at last Friday’s inauguration, Spicer explained that the president was upset with the way the media has treated the new administration.
“It’s not just about a crowd size,” Spicer said. “It’s about this constant, you know, he’s not going to run. Then if he runs, he’s going to drop out. Then if he runs, he can’t win, there is no way he can win Pennsylvania. There is no way he can win Michigan.”
“There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has,” Spicer added. “It’s just unbelievably frustrating when you’re continuously told it’s not big enough, it’s not good enough, you can’t win.”
Spencer went on to say that Trump has “gone out there and defied the odds over and over and over again. And he keeps getting told what he can’t do by this narrative out there and he exceeds it every single time and I think there is an overall frustration.”
On Saturday, Spicer condemmed the media for what he claimed to be “deliberately false reporting” in attempt “to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration” — he then cited false claims that the crowds were larger than those for Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Spicer compared his comments on Saturday to a newspaper making a mistake and printing a correction, while doubling down that Trump’s inauguration was the most-watched of all time when you factor in internet and mobile device viewing.
Many media watchdogs noticed that he mostly called on Trump-friendly reporters early in the briefing.
On Sunday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Chuck Todd’s “Meet the Press” that Spicer didn’t lie when he said Trump’s inauguration attendance was the largest, “period,” insisting that the press secretary simply offered “alternative facts.”
“You’re saying it’s a falsehood, and they’re giving — Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” Conway said. Todd responded by saying, “Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods.”