Trump senior aide Kellyanne Conway offered a terrifying explanation as to why White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer didn’t lie on Saturday when he claimed President Donald Trump’s inauguration recorded the largest crowd in history. During his first press conference, Spicer admonished the press for reporting on Trump’s tiny crowd size.
“No one had numbers because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out,” he said, before going ahead anyway to declare that Trump had attracted “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration” in person and in the world.
“These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm for the inauguration are shameful and wrong.”
Conway appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday and tussled back and forth with host Chuck Todd after the host asked her why Spicer would “utter a falsehood” during his first news conference before the American people.
“It undermines the credibility of the entire White House press office on day one,” Todd said.
Conway was predictably dismissive of Todd’s concern and offered a terrifying explanation as to why Spicer said what he said.
“Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood. … Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.”
The host was flabbergasted.
“Alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods,” Todd responded.
"Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods," Chuck Todd tells Pres. Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway this morning. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/Ao005dQ13r
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 22, 2017
Throughout the interview, Conway showed off her well-practiced skills of evasion, deflection, and giving false comparisons. She rattled off talking points blaming President Barack Obama for all the ills affecting the women who marched on Washington the day after Trump’s inauguration. Incidentally, it’s been reported that the crowd for the Women’s March eclipsed Trump’s inauguration by almost 800,000 people.
It’s important to remember Conway’s term, “alternative facts,” because this verbiage corresponds with other terminology like “post-truth.” Oxford Dictionary defines “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
At no other time in American history has the very concept of truth faced more peril than it faces today.
Trump continues to “gaslight” America as he continues to lie, blunder, and fake his way through his term in office. This behavior is likely to become a recurring pattern with Trump’s administration. Expect to hear “alternative facts” when he talks about things like the economy, health care, crime, job numbers, and foreign affairs. Because the mindset of creating his own reality is what helped put Trump in the White House, along with the millions of Americans who were willing to ignore all logic and reason to elect him.
Featured image (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
