Grisham's laughable dodge

[struggle4progress]

By Erik Wemple
Jan. 13, 2020 at 4:48 p.m. EST

... The last official White House briefing hosted by a press secretary occurred on March 11 of last year, under Grisham’s predecessor, Sarah Sanders ... Grisham’s absence from the podium means she doesn’t really deserve her main title. She took on the job of White House press secretary as well as communications director while retaining her former job as communications director for first lady Melania Trump.

A bipartisan group of 13 former government officials — many of them White House press secretaries — signed a recent letter urging the return of press briefings. “Regular briefings also force a certain discipline on government decision-making. Knowing there are briefings scheduled is a powerful incentive for administration officials to complete a policy process on time. Put another way, no presidents want their briefers to say, day after day, we haven’t figured that one out yet” ...

A level-headed president who took questions all the time from the media could well obviate the need for official White House press briefings. Such is clearly not the case with an unhinged, mendacious and ill-tempered president. His statements at media availabilities, on Twitter and during Fox News interviews, in fact, trigger an even greater need for press briefings. Someone needs to sort out all the nonsense, after all ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/13/stephanie-grishams-laughable-dodge/

[struggle4progress]

1. The last White House press briefing was months ago

By Scott Nover
Jan. 13, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. EST

... The loss of the briefings “has a negative effect on American democracy,” says Jonathan Karl, chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and head of the White House Correspondents’ Association, who has urged Grisham to bring them back. It’s “symbolically significant” to have a regular forum for questioning the president’s top flack, he continues. “I think it sends a message about accountability and transparency, and it’s a message seen not just around the United States, but around the world.”

Other reporters say the president can be even less responsive than the White House spokesperson. “He hears key words … and delivers the same talking points … without actually answering a new question and providing new information,” says CBS News White House reporter Weijia Jiang. Consider one chopper talk from August: “I am the chosen one,” he told reporters. “Somebody had to do it. So I’m taking on China. I’m taking on China on trade. And you know what? We’re winning.” Other times, he points to Marine One and says he can’t hear a reporter’s question before quickly moving on.

“I don’t think we should confuse access with good information,” says Liz Allen, a White House deputy communications director under President Barack Obama. “A lot of what the president says isn’t true or is embellished.” Allen notes that press secretaries may also lie or exaggerate, but says the briefing is a way to get them on the record and try to hold them accountable ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-last-white-house-press-briefing-was-months-ago-does-anyone-really-miss-it/2020/01/10/4a8d5c10-2357-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html

[The Blue Flower]

2. Remember when Sarah Sanders lied regularly at the briefings?

There was talk then of journalists just not showing up to avoid airing the lies. Maybe this is just as well. There's no reason to expect honesty.

[struggle4progress]

3. Is Grisham a press secretary?

By Margaret Sullivan/The Washington Post
Posted Jan 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM
Updated Jan 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM


... “That’s an easy one,” Lockhart told me. “She doesn’t do any of the important parts of the job, so no” ...

She aggressively tweets, of course - often disparaging journalists - and frequently makes appearances on the Trump propaganda network, Fox News, or the even more right wing and equally friendly OANN. (She’s made only a few more mainstream appearances.)

She even co-wrote an offensive op-ed piece harshly criticizing two Washington Post reporters for an accurate story that Trump didn’t like ...

There’s little in Grisham’s background to suggest she would perform well on the podium under assertive questioning seeking detailed, credible information.

She is, however, a terrific sycophant ...

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/20200113/column-is-grisham-press-secretary

[marble falls]

4. She can't lie with a straight face and the botox injections have caused her to drool ...

like a mule with afatosis.

[bitterross]

5. Why bother with briefings? They will only be full of lies. We're better off without them.

I get that everyone is upset there are no regular briefings any longer. I used to be too. In a regular world this would matter. In Trump World it really doesn't. Yes, yes, it's allowing them to get off the hook in a way.

The alternative, though, is actually, IMHO, worse. All we will have from press briefings is sound bites that are lies that will play incessantly on Fox and right-wing radio. These will only serve to reinforce the narrative. The rest of the non-GOP media will waste time reporting the lies and then only marginally refuting refuting them - all in the interest of being "fair" and "reporting both sides." Thus, actually helping to propagate the lies and propaganda.

We're better off not having Grisham, or anyone else, stand up on a regular basis and be given a platform from which to spew propaganda. It gives that BS less airplay in the long-run.

[gratuitous]

6. My word!

So many White House reporters who think it's not a good thing that the White House no longer conducts daily briefings and hasn't done one for nearly a year. It's too bad these reporters don't have some sort of media platform where they could publicize this and bring public pressure on the White House to be more forthcoming. If only Trump had promised and continued to promise to be the most transparent administration ever! They could use those pronouncements as additional leverage to make the administration more accountable.

But, sadly, there's no way to "both sides" this development, and no way for these reporters to bring public attention to this issue. Too bad. Too, too bad.

[crickets]

8. +1

[keithbvadu2]

7. Stephanie is doing the job she was hired to do, not the job she is paid to do.

[maxsolomon]

9. Trump does his own press. He doesn't trust anyone else to lie for him.

They are not born to the task like he is. They are not a pathological narcissist, and the strain of it shows as it corrodes their souls.

Until this is over, its best for everyone that we not go through this charade.