Wednesday, June 7, 2017

It’s Official

According to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, if Trump tweets it, it’s official.

“The president is the president of the United States, so they are considered official statements by the president of the United States,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.

That’s going to come back to bite both Spicer and Trump in the ass.  For instance, when the appeals courts have been ruling on the travel ban, they have noted that while the briefs and filings from the administration say nothing about banning Muslims per se, Trump has been shooting off his mouth via his thumbs and making it clear that he’s singling out Muslims, and the courts have noted it.  So will the Supreme Court when the ban gets there.  So the lesson here, as heard on countless episodes of “Law & Order,” is “Counselor, control your client!” [Gavel]

He’s also used his mouthpiece to undermine his own spokespeople.

Members of President Trump’s Cabinet and top White House aides tried to soften his travel ban by calling it a “temporary pause.” They said his firing of former FBI director James B. Comey was not about the Russia investigation. And this week they used their public comments to attempt to keep the United States out of a messy regional conflict in the Middle East.

But every time, Trump weighed in with a different message that effectively undercut what his aides and Cabinet secretaries appeared to be trying to achieve.

Trump’s aides are quickly learning they speak for the president at their own peril.

The president seems to shrug off these incidents, several of which have occurred since he took office, and he has made clear that ultimately only he speaks for his administration, all while rejecting efforts to curtail his use of Twitter.

“The president has always said that Twitter is like owning his own newspaper, except he can’t lose money,” said former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg. “He’ll listen to your advice. He’ll listen to suggestions. But the president is not going to be handled.”

I think the only way you can really get him to stop tweeting is with handcuffs.

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