Politics

Maybe the death of the White House press briefing isn’t a bad idea

Bob CollinsBob Collins May 12, 2017
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President Donald Trump had an interesting idea for solving the problem of inaccuracies from his White House communications team: have them stop talking.

For the moment, let’s ignore the fact that there’s no such thing as “perfect accuracy.” You’re either accurate or you’re not accurate.

While the suggestion might seem extreme, it’s one worth considering if you consider this: What good are White House press briefings now other than entertainment?

Trump is acknowledging that White House briefings are full of misinformation, which requires reporters to spend their time comparing the statements of Trump’s spokespeople to Trump’s tweets. And also to reality.

The White House spokesperson’s job is to try to convince a skeptical press corps that Trump’s versions of events are supported by facts. It ends up as little more than theater.

Handing out written statements is how the White House announced the firing of James Comey, releasing a detailed letter from the deputy attorney general, criticizing Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

In his interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump said the decision to fire Comey was his idea, citing “this Russia thing,” contradicting his administration’s paper trail suggesting Trump was merely taking the advice of his attorney general.

White House press briefings are a chance to get clarification and make sense of things. Trump has learned what the White House press corps has learned in this new age of politics in the United States: You can’t.