President Trump and His Press Secretary Disagree on Trumps Words
Originally posted February 1, 2017
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer repeatedly denied on Tuesday that President Donald Trump ever called his executive order barring travelers from certain countries a “ban,” no matter that the president and Spicer himself called it just that the day before.
Here’s what Trumps Press Secretary said:
“One million people have come into this country. That’s not a ban… A ban would mean people can’t get in, and we’ve clearly seen hundreds of thousands of people come into our country from other countries.”
Spicer made this rather testy comment in public, even though his boss had said just the day before, “If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the “bad” would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad “dudes” out there!” (italics ours). Clearly president Trump called his executive order on immigration a “ban” .
Such disagreements between the president and his press secretary indicate the White House does not have any kind of a cogent or coordinated messaging strategy. Giving weight to such an idea is the fact that after Spicers comment about Trumps executive order on immigration ‘not being a ban’, the president again said it was a ban in one of his daily Twitter Tweets:
Spicer said “It’s not a travel ban,” adding: “Because when we use words like ‘travel ban,’ that misrepresents what it is.” He was apparently claiming that the ‘Press’ was making him and his office use the word “ban” because they (the Press) were using it. ??? Perhaps the press secretary will update his twitter alerts.
The president said this weekend that the order was “a very, very strict ban.”
Sources include:
Sean Spicer Insists Muslim Ban Is Not A ‘Ban,’ But He And Trump Both Called It One -The Huffington Post
The Trump team bizarrely quibbles with calling its travel ban a ‘ban’ — and then backs down – The Washington Post
Other comments from Trumps press secretary included:
“But it can’t be … a ban if you’re letting a million people in, if 325,000 people from another country can’t come in,” Spicer said. “That, by nature, is not a ban.”
“I’m not confused…, The words (ban) that are being used to describe it are derived from what the media is calling it. He has been very clear that it is extreme vetting.”
President Trump was just “using the words that the media is using.”
Well we are not confused either. It seems clear that the press secretary and the president are not on the same page lately. Hope that changes soon.
OK Then
Editors note: In referring to “twitter alerts” it is meant as a figure of speech. The article is not indicating or meaning the “Tweets published by select public agencies and emergency organizations during a crisis or emergency that contain up-to-date information relevant to an unfolding event, such as public safety warnings and evacuation instructions.” See Using Twitter Alerts
