How does someone that graduated from the famous institution that is Ouachita Baptist University not deserve such a high profile job?
70
She’s no C J Cregg.
22
I truly don't know if Sarah Sanders considers herself an Evangelical or not. I do know people who posture using a Christian tag for gain and credibility but their actions and words deny faith in Jesus. I am offended when asked a serious question by the media, her defensive posture of recycling her go to statement, "...if the Democrats would..." blah, blah, blah, it's almost like cussing.... and it's disengenuous, deceptive and purposely devisive. And now, more insult to injury, the "...Democratic robot.." comment from Sarah-----140(!) contacts of Russians with Trump's Campaign and not a single one reported, even though warned/ given a heads up/ -and no one told the FBI??? For crying out loud! Plenty of stink from the swamp. There are plenty of Christian's who are democrats and fighting for Righteousness to rule in Our land not swamp creatures. This lie exposed by Mueller regarding the firing James Comey and her subsequent spin to snatch back what she confessed to, is something we should talk about in Sunday school this week....You can't serve two masters. The platform she has should not continue to bring reproach on God's name.
42
Thanks for calling her out. She is absolutely abhorrent, and the opposite of everything this country - used to - stand for. On a basic level, does she have *any* qualifications for her job?
74
Huckabee is a sideshow to the main event. She is an egotistical nobody. Therefore, I advocate that the press corps and other media boycott all of the so-call press conferences and also give short shrift to Trump's rallies. Trump is a media junkie and loves all the attention. My only caveat that we assure the public and members of Congress continue to be made aware of any new monstrous lies and policies he and the weasel, Miller, may dream up.
By the way, NYT, ask T to beg forgiveness for his sins against the public and Constitution.
47
Reporters at press conferences have been so UTTERLY RUDE - I don' t blame her...she didn't sign up for combat duty.
85
@Cathy
Sure she did. This president is at war with most of our country's basic civil institutions, freedom of the press being just one of them. Anyone who signed on to report to the orange man knows what he stands for. Her job is entirely to do combat for him. Seems like she's not doing her job very well, though - she has turned tail and run.
683
@Cathy
“rude” perhaps because SS thinks her job is to run interference, deflect and evade in all but the most anodyne of exchanges.
I say let’s reduce the deficit by eliminating this taxpayer funded charade.
It’s bad enough we have to pay for the president’s wasteful use of government lawyers (obstruction) and security staff (Maralago).
442
@Cathy To quote Harry Truman, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
518
Sure she did not sign up for combat duty. That is not the point. She is a liar. A born again christian and a liar. Ms Huckabee, what would Jesus do?
65
Religious? So what! You will notice that almost all of Trump's faithful are deeply religious, and in fact, hypocritical. They all bring harm to America, while professing to Make America Great Again. What a Joke!
53
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: How do you reconcile yourself with the knowledge, incontrovertible, that you knowingly lied to the entire planet? You are trump's puppet, AND YOU HAD A CHOICE. YOU CAVED.
You had a chance, a glorious chance, to take a very public stand.
AND YOU CAVED.
60
The woman is rude, deceitful and useless. Sure, that makes her the ideal mouthpiece for a gangster like trump. But why are taxpayers footing the bill for this nonsense?
95
Stop attending propaganda meetings a month or two. Stop live broadcasts. It'll make them bend.
23
At this point who cares? She lies for her pathetic boss anyway. Can't wait to vote him out of office.
51
Cut out the whining and do your job. There is no entitlement to briefings.
11
Sarah Sanders is a certifiable lier. Full stop.
45
Worst White House Press Secretary ever!
42
Trump surrounds himself with individuals like Sarah Sanders who have no moral compass. All White House press secretaries spin. Sanders is the first WH press secretary who lies without compunction. I hate the idea of paying a liar good taxpayer dollars, but the institution of press secretary is too important to do away with even temporarily.
45
Her job is to be a hateful, hideous, self-important liar. In other words, she is there to amplify her boss.
Can't believe we've endured two years, 94 days, five hours, ten minutes and 12 seconds of this torture. But here we are.
67
The Times should be very pleased with itself to discover through the report that the "fake news" wasn't...Bravo keep up the great work!! The first amendment is still intact Thank you!
8
She is a joke, an embarrassment to the office and all press secretaries, past and present (and probably future). She makes Ron Ziegler, who I thought was the worst ever (until now), look good.
21
Don't bother with briefings. She's only spreading fake news and then turns around and calls the media fake news.
26
Sorry, don't have the patience to read 1769 previous comments.
Mine (no doubt like many others') is, "Who cares?"
Ms Sanders is a liar just like her boss. Surely the Washington press corps has something better to do.
Time to start haunting the Executive departments with "acting heads" (read "fake" heads) to see what is really going on.
All news from the W.H. can be found on Twitter.
20
Sarah Huckleberry Sourpuss Sanders. Raise an eyebrow and attack. I think that sums her up.
24
"What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who holds the title of White House press secretary?"
This is what happens when you make a deal with the devil. Can it be she has a soul hidden someplace and finally sees what she has become? HIS tool.
17
Every time I see a picture of her surrounded by cameras and the press I think why. Why should any member of the press other than RT show up? They are not press briefings, she and this administration do nothing but lie, he has continues his assaults on the press and media so why bother? When you see a deranged person on the street screaming something you don't stop and listen to them; you keep walking. Any sane person knows that.
27
Trump and his sycophant White House staffs and Republican legislator have been shameless in their exercise of power. Whatever happened to honor, duty, and country?
17
Does it really make a difference? She was lying through her teeth anyway.
11
Who can blame her when the media grills her so mercilessly, and then, when she isn't able to report as often due to that grilling, writes scathing articles about how she is not reporting often enough.
2
Sarah whatshername is the type of individual that, one would not invite to dinner, for any reason.
20
I don't even bother to watch the "press releases". First, they are presented by a stone faced Medusa, who lies repeatedly and dodges questions. Her believably, like her boss, is zero.
Again, why bother?
24
Sanders is simply the corrupt face of a corrupt administration. Both are made for one another.
32
Just watch PJ Craig on West Wing for respite. Now there was a smart and ethical woman! Sure, it's TV, but isn't that we we have now in the White House?
5
The Trump White House is as dishonest and duplicitous as any Russian regime in the last century.
18
We are paying her for not doing her job !!!
12
Really don't miss the alternative facts coming ftom her mouth. How does she wake up and do this job with a clear conscience each day? Does she really have such a low opinion of the intelligence of the American people?
21
Sarah Huckabee Sanders cannot do her job without repeating obvious falsehoods from Trump. When she does, the press speaks up and she ends up having stupid arguments over her attempts to justify outright falsehoods. I am not surprised that she avoids the press who are not from outlets that support Trump unconditionally. She should resign if she has any moral fiber.
16
I am still waiting for the first coherent thought to come out of her mouth.
12
Is there no crime we can pin on this abomination of an American?
7
I agree. Sanders, Giuliani and Conway just lie and obfuscate. Why does the NYT and other outlets publish anything they say? I’m serious. Why?
22
She did not brief the news media, she lied to them. Sad
9
This is part and parcel of the Trump administration protecting itself from legal fears due to their ongoing lies as well as their failure to comply with questions that the American people have to obtain TRUTHFUL answers. She and this administration consistently fail to serve the American people. They only choose to serve themselves.
7
No sense of integrity whatsoever. I wouldn't trust her to tell me the correct day of the week.
18
Just another Trump alum. She'll go down in history as what she is.
11
Reporters who questioned her were among the weakest interviewers I have ever seen. For the most part the White House press corps is easily cowed by an aggressive personality. They never follow up on someone else’s hood line of questioning and rarely ask tough questions. Sanders lies were never challenged as fiercely as she ought to have been. It says something about the Trump administration’s thorough corruption and mendacity that’s they can’t handle even the the lightweight White House press corps.
13
And when Sarah does hold briefings, she lies....
Why are we paying her?
10
Whenever I'm feeling euphoric or even mildly over-optimistic, I look at this or other photos of bitter, defensive, paranoid, sanctimonious Sarah.
5
I don't watch the press brievings because its nothing but lies and spin. Always
9
Every question from the press corps, going forward, should be followed up with "is that the truth?
11
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders, nominally the White House press secretary, has abandoned the custom of briefing the news media."
She never did.
10
That's Trump going full blown banana republic strongman for you.
And there are still those that will vote for him? Don't they get we are losing our democracy? The folks that created the country are all spinning in their graves.
But then, even when she does press conferences, Huckabee Sanders says nothing but lies and vile attacks. Not sure if this is so much better. She makes Spicer pass for a paragon of virtue.
13
Since Sarah Sanders apparently has trouble with the truth, why does the press care if she holds press conferences?
6
Wonder if the author was looking in the mirror when she wrote this? These hard left wingers are the worst at refusing to acknowledge their part in problems.
I used to try to watch WH press briefings. But gave up after the first few months into this President's term. The behavior of most of the press pool reminded me of those nature films about Africa. A mob of vultures, hyenas, and jackals shrieking, howling, cackling as they rip away at some hapless prey that they come across. Mindless, indifferent to anything but their own satisfaction.
They're playing right into the hands of what the Russians wanted and have achieved. An ever widening schism within America.
1
Why is Sarah Sanders such a poor liar? She has a lot of practice, but still isn't convincing. The sneering tone doesn't help. Until her infamous lies about Comey, which were obviously not true, whatever Sarah said was viewed as "trust" but verify; since then, it has been verify before trusting.
Sarah also has a pronoun problem. She works in the White House, but she is not a policymaker. Nevertheless, she often says "we plan to" or some such. So wrong.
12
Sanders and Trump would say that having these WH driveway exchanges with the WH press corp, especially when it's Trump choosing to respond, is superior to traditional press briefings. In truth, they are not. Instead they reduce the press corp to beggars or performing monkeys trying to elicit information from his royal Trumpness and his courtiers. It is undignified and much less productive than questions posed by a succession of reporters and answered serially (or avoided). Whenever something gets uncomfortable, Trump can turn and retreat to wherever he was heading before engaging the press corp. That can't be done, or at least is much more awkward and telling, were it to occur in the briefing room.
3
I don't blame Trump, people seem to be catching on. Isn't Bill Bar the press secretary?
5
Is this a game of limbo? Who can go lower?
Undergoing an daily - often violently harassing - attack on her person, her family, her boss, her country by a relentless, juvenile White House "Press" corps - do you blame her for removing herself from the role of whipping-girl? As if it wasn't sufficient for the WHPC to abuse Ms. Sanders, now we're given this truly gossipy piece of journalistic refuse.
Why don't we (public) just call her role exactly what it is - mouthpiece for the current occupant of the WH.
Which really should be a volunteer position.
We, taxpayers, do not have to fund a non-existent position in this administration - WH Press Secretary.
4
What is she getting paid for? An extended vacation at public expense!
6
Sarah Sanders is just a minor aggravation in the total Trump sphere of assorted actions against what most believe to be reasonable human behavior. She is just a non-entity, neither to be admonished nor praised but she could be accused of being a total liar and and as such, a typical representative of the pox which American voters allowed to enter the oval office.
6
"There is only one way to get a democracy on its feet, and that is to keep the public informed. There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice that does not live by secrecy. Get these things out in the open, describe them, attack them, ridicule them in the press, and sooner or later, public opinion will sweep them away.
-Joseph Pulitzer
The Trump administration does everything it can to hide the corruption, graft, incompetence and immoral behavior that is promenant throughout all facets of his administration. SHS is not very good at her job. Any parent of a teenager can tell she is lying.
8
Surely this is not a novel idea, but if Trump and WH want to boycott the press and not keep them informed, why can't our press just ignore what he says, does, lies about, exaggerates, etc. He feeds on publicity. I could do with a 30 day hiatus from the hysteria and having to look at his white eyes and fluffy hair. Let Fox and extreme right cover him. I guess it is cutting our nose off to spite our face, but I would personally love it. He would blow up. Take a poll, see who could do without news from the Trump Dynasty, nepotism at its worst.
1
She is supremely ruling. In her mind.
3
She overtly lies and/or misleads and/or does not answer rational, important questions posed to her but rather spins to an attack on perceived opponents. She is a propagandist. Pure and simple. Her national voice supporting a morally corrupt administration and her profession to be a follower of Christ have surely turned countless seekers away and caused believers to seriously question the professed faith of many in the republican party.
7
I'm glad to *finally* see the L word used in this paper. "Lied." Sarah Sanders LIED. She didn't misstate something. She didn't inaccurately describe something. She LIED. It needs to be said loud and often. We need to hold these clowns accountable and we can't do that if our institutions don't have the intestinal fortitude to call it like it is.
19
SHS same level as saudust prince!
3
If we look our criticism, to be fair , we are biased.
Yes Sander Nielsen did horrendous job, which no self respecting person should carry out this much long.
But what about men , so far departed ilk. Some of than not better than the slug slime on the wall.
this is not defending Sanders but hey there are way worse people in that WH.
How do you describe, Stephen Miller. being in the same room requires moral HAZMAT suit.
3
Trump tweets so what is there to report?
1
I never thought I'd write this, but... in way, I miss Sean Spicer.
6
Sanders is as bad, maybe worse than her predecessor, Sean Spicer. She is every bit as dishonest as and even more malicious than Spicer.
The media, NYTimes included, are ever so soft on female. As a result, Sanders never got the Spicer treatment.
3
I'd have to make the observation that most of the comments are being made by bigots. Most of these are political or religious bigots- and so we care nothing for their words. From an objective perspective SH has been abused several times and apparently has grown tired of the bigots with whom she has attempted to interact.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders exists at the pleasure of the President.
1
Given the every day rudeness of the press corps, this is a good decision.
4
Why are we paying Ms. or Mrs. Sanders a salary?
She is derelict in one of the most, if not, the most, essential responsibilities of a press secretary.
12
If she isn't doing her job, why is she still drawing a salary from the public purse?
15
Let's not forget that this is YOUR government and you are entitled to a certain amount of transparency in the actions of the executive branch. By not holding press conferences and not being held accountable by the press, the President and his cabinet can do whatever they want in the shadows. Is this really the government that you want?
33
Why is she still there? She said she would step down last December. Great placeholder for having no meaningful press officer. Maybe she is being paid to NOT have press briefings. I can see the attraction of such a job. She does not resign so no need to replace. And she presumably gets a very nice salary for doing nothing! Fits the Trump administration perfectly!
17
The daily press brief was always a farce. I hope it never returns. Also hope the state of the union speech is jettisoned. Prez should just send an email to congressional leaders. All political theater is tedious at best.
4
The job of press secretary for the White House in every administration has always been about putting the best spin on the president's actions and statements, not on providing "truth". Considered in that light nothing Sanders has done is out of the ordinary. What is unusual in this particular administration is the unprecedented stream of bald-faced, at times laughable, lies that routinely emanate from the oval office, and it is this flood of patent falsehoods that make Sander's job of spinning stand out from the efforts of those that preceded her in previous administrations. She has to sell this unsellable swill, and in trying to do so she has provoked a level of resistance and criticism from the White House Press Corps that it has seldom displayed against previous presidential spokespeople. The response from the Trump Bunker has been to stop giving press conferences. Personally, I think this is just fine. We're certainly not losing anything in terms of truth or facts by not having more press conferences from this administration, and the press is still perfectly free to report as it pleases on the behavior of the President and his staff and cabinet. I understand that the very powerful and privileged journalists in the Press Corps may feel slighted by the lack of respect Sanders has displayed towards them, but not having to endure any further insults to our intelligence by Sanders' should surely give them, and the rest of us, a welcome sense of relief.
8
Sanders' faux press conferences were meaningless exercises in spin and damage control at best. Her literal absence from the world stage is just fine with me.
11
since sanders does little but lie and deceive there is little point to have these briefings.
13
A day without Sarah H. Sanders inflicting a press briefing in name only on us is like a vacation. I haven't missed her.
12
I for one am not fussed that Ms Sanders has stopped appearing. She only spent her time at the podium lying. We get enough of that from her boss.
22
@Lisa
but are we taxpayers paying her salary then?
2
The real sad part of this is that she does not even realize that she is being used by Trump. The minute she is no longer useful-she will be thrown under the bus-like so many of Trumps other employees. After all is said and one-this woman is done and the only people who might handle her is Fox
7
I'm not sure what the point of her having press briefings is. She a proven liar (while most of the folks in her position used very creative spin, they usually stopped short of lying), gives even less information than past press secretaries (never thought that was possible), and addresses the press in such a hostile, contentious, belligerent, disrespectful, dour, unprofessional manner as to be useless in that position.
And she's annoying to listen to, like nails on a chalkboard (if anyone remembers them).
The press can gather information be talking privately to other insiders who are much more forthcoming.
17
Seems to me Saunders is overpaid for what she’s (not) doing.
10
@Bev Kagan
I'd love to get 180 th for doing nothing too!
1
How about at least meeting the standard that the GOP wants for people who have public assistance:
drug testing Ms Huckabee and requiring she work for her pay check which she is currently only collecting but not doing the job??
23
If she isn't doing her job, why are we paying her salary?
22
Sarah Sanders is not credible and really no one from the Trump administration including Trump is credible so I would have to agree that having press briefings is a complete waste of time for everyone involved, including the American public.
11
Has anyone who knows her history and beliefs ever tried to explain why she took on the job of lying for Trump? She is supposed to be religious. Sarah Palin was also a religion-first Republican, and Palin said that "lying for Jesus" is a good thing. Is that what we're seeing with SHS? Otherwise, I simply do not understand her at all.
426
@Bruce As I'm not certain how far into your cheek is your tongue, I'll go out on a limb and confess to being under the impression that Evangelicals are called upon to follow the Ten Commandments, over and above even the laws 'of man.'
Else, why the terrifying strictures of my bearded and berobed Charlton Heston-ridden youth? Else, why the endeavors to post The Ten on the grounds of Southern courthouses?
Although lying and "bearing false witness" are not identical sins, they do share a goodly area of overlap.
Secy. Sanders, as noted in the Mueller report, under oath had cause to correct her repeated WH Press Room assertions that "countless" and "numerous" FBI agents and employees had shared with her their negative sentiments regarding Director Comey.
It seems apparent that Sanders' under-oath correction was an admission of having borne false witness against her neighborly FBI; thus that her original statement(s) involved Sanders having done a number on the 8th Commandment.
44
@Beth
this president and the republican party at large has the complete blessing of the evangelical community to lie, cheat, commit adultery, embezzle, you name it. They have the supreme court and judicial branch of their dreams, clearly showing them that God has sent DJT to America.
45
@Beth
very simple- like the others who work for DJT she's auditioning for a pundits job on Fox
29
The "poor girl" plays point guard for a team of miscreants who have endangered American democracy. She has no skill, no credibility and no hope. She has only her "higher calling."
14
This comment section perfectly illustrates what happens when there are no longer any daily press briefings: supporters of a sitting president who systematically attacks journalists from the safe distance of his twitter account, can't come up with ANY concrete example showing why they agree with him to start fleeing from journalists.
Journalists are said to be "rude", or sometimes, as in F1Drivers' comment, it's merely the fact that they disagree politically with a sitting president, that for GOP voters is now enough to all of a sudden argue that it's better to no longer maintain the tradition of allowing critical professional journalists to hold a president accountable through tough daily questions.
One of the ways the GOP is actively eroding America's greatness is clearly by telling their voters that political opponents should not be listened to nor even talked to, including when they're journalists, because simply disagreeing politically is from now on enough to be discarded.
The great American tradition of strong public debate and daily interactions with critical journalists, is being destroyed, and GOP voters are too brainwashed to even realize what is happening, let alone care.
What a weak presidency.
27
We know, it is a fact, that Trump/his team (Sarah & others) lie and give false and misleading statements constantly. The journalists report on what is said and then are accused of creating fake news. But in fact Trump/his team are creating the fake news!!
We know, it is a fact, that anything journalists (democrats etc) say or print will be taken out of context and exaggerated by Hannity and others on Fox News for the sole purpose of making them look bad. Freedom of Speech is now Freedom to Lie, boldly, without remorse.
The press is good at finding truth in other ways, the Mueller report shows that they have reported responsibly even though constantly badgered by Trump/his team rants and lies. Perhaps they should boycott the WH, stop feeding the wolf.
14
With VERY rare exceptions, the press has been extremely deferential to Trump and almost never asks truly probing questions. No inquiries into the horde of Russian mobsters living in Trump Towers, engaged in massive money laundering operations. No questions about Jared's cozy relationship with a certain Saudi bone saw murderer. I could go on and on. The press throws the leaders softball questions and tries to please them in order to gain better access. It's a corrupt system that encourages deceit.
21
In this era of artificial intelligence and satellites communications, a high-tech analogy for Ms. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' task is appropriate:
When downloading and decoding data from an unguided missile, the output can be contradictory and unpredictable.
1
She's a liar, totally unprofessional, and unlikeable.
34
Good for Sarah.
To be fair, a few news media reporters in the White House briefings forfeited the privilege to be in the room with Sarah Sanders and that has an impact for all the news reporters.
Her responses to adversarial comments and questions are succinct, objective and to the point. She is gracious and supremely effective at her job. And her competence is what what makes her a target and a threat to the opposition - primarily the media.
And that sweet Southern twang, in the words of President Nixon when describing the same quality in Margaret Tutwiler, makes her "perfect."
47
@F1Driver If you only judge her by her professional skills and forget about her actual role, then yes, she is a near perfect shill. One of the very best in the same way Trump is the very best, worst possible human... Step back for a second and realize her job is to serve the people, not the POTUS and you'll see a terrible person that is either dying inside or completely lacking in any honor or humility.
358
@F1Driver I guess you neglected to read the Mueller report where it's documented that she was caught lying to the press several times. No excuse for that. Not whay I consider professional behavior. She doesn't want to do any more briefings so to avoid being caught in more lies. Also its the lazy way out for a press secretary not to have to meet with the press.
204
No, her responses were evasive, insulting and petty. I'm not sure which press secretary you've been watching, but it hasn't been Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
On the day Manafort was indicted: “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president". Not "the president is saddened by the announcement of criminal charges against his former campaign manager, and pledges the full cooperation of his administration with the special counsel's investigators." Not even "we believe Mr. Manafort to be innocent of these charges". Just the laughable implication that the president's campaign chair's criminality does not reflect on the president.
264
I don't see that we have lost anything by the lack of a stream of lies from Sanders, who seems capable of little other than lying.
21
What, precisely, is the job description of the White House Press Secretary? If it doesn't involve regular press briefings perhaps it should be known by another name. And if it does involve regular press briefings, why is this woman being paid?
491
@Tom Why is Trump in the White House still? We should be embarrassed to the point of action.
30
she Is the best wh speaker PERIOD!
3
@Abraham Maybe the best at lying WH press secretary.
2
The extremist Evangelicals - Sarah Huckaby Sanders, Mike Pence, et al., give Christianity a bad name and it will take years for mainstream, middle-of-the-road Christians to shake off the stigma and dirt inflicted by them.
34
Um, hasn't anyone seen the self-serving, rude behavior of the press lately... asking leading, biased questions, refusing to shut-up? I've stopped watching the news, specifically CNN and MSNBC, because they openly share their angry opinions as if they were FACT. Now, tTHERE'S s an investigation waiting to happen.
5
@Beatrice No excuse for Sanders lying to the press which has been documented in the Mueller report.
18
It won’t make much of a difference other than we won’t be able to continue counting the lies. Between the two of them, nothing was ever the truth. Now watch the leaks do one of two things. Either we’ll hear more, or we won’t hear any. Guess we’ll just have his tweets left. That’ll work too!
3
$179,700. That is what could be saved if we dock Ms. Sanders for her no-show job. Although, I fear how Trump would spend that money.
15
What would George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington or "Honest" Abe Lincoln think of the current resident in the White House. Furthermore, I wonder if Trump has ever taken the time to read and appreciate John Adams's White House Prayer, which is carved into the fireplace mantle in the State Dining Room. The prayer concludes with the line "May none but Honest and Wise Men rule under This Roof." The fact that Sarah Huckabee Sanders lies cannot be much of a surprise, she speaks for and defends the most dishonest president in history. One has to wonder how she squares this with her supposed Christian values. She must not mind the strong stench of hypocrisy.
16
Ran out of lies? Not possible with these folks.
11
Why are my tax dollars going to pay for her salary and all the benefits?
13
I don't think the news media albeit print, cable, or radio should waste their time and resources covering any press conference by Sarah Sanders or her staff. She refuses to tell the truth and is brash with anyone who challenges her lies. Anyone attending further events would be smart to turn their backs on Sarah.
6
This self-proclaimed Minister of Disinformation is playing solely to an audience that rejects the truth - and she excels in her role.
10
Don't worry your pretty little head, America, your Uncle Trump will take care of everything! Things are going just great, so there's no need to bother Sarah with a bunch of questions about what we are doing and we really shouldn't have to tell you what's going on, either. Just put all of your faith and trust in your Uncle Trump and his Republican Party. What could possibly go wrong?
10
SHS sold out a long time ago. She abandoned the truth so long ago that she couldn't recognize it if it bit her in the face. It's sad and disappointing that she has become a mere lapdog to the President. It's amazing she can look herself in the mirror after so many distortions of the truth covering up lies and deceit.
8
All this woman does is lie from the podium so why should we even listen to her?
7
Trump & CO’s already thin credibility is now stretched beyond credulous belief. A daily presser to simply report more and more lies does no one any good.
6
What would Ms. Huckabee-Sanders say if the Administration decided to be honest and transparent with the public...no holding back.
Here's a taste...
"We borrowed money last year, driving the deficit to over $1 trillion, so that the wealthiest 1O% could enjoy a massive tax reduction. We plan on doing it again in 2020. Poor and middle class Americans will have to pay down this debt with higher taxes, less Social Security and Medicare, and inferior educations.
"There will be no good paying jobs for other than rich Americans in the future. We will import HB-13 visa holders for the rest. Robots will drill and dig for oil and coal. There will be no jobs re-training programs in green energy... boo-hoo!
We don't like or respect people of color or women, so expect inequalities to become worse. We very much like the idea of a police state.
"We support global warming, so you can kiss Earth good-bye. Trump wants to be Dictator. We support him and share his lust for power and wealth. You can kiss the Constitution and your many rights good-bye, too.
"We lied to you. It's your fault you believed us. We will not hesitate to turn the military on you to ensure your obedience."
14
That's the nicest picture of Sarah I've ever seen.
2
Standing next to a roaring helicopter and answering a few questions while making a few idiotic statements is a great way to deal with the press corps. This is where we have come to with this president. He is a threat to democracy and the telling of the truth.
9
She is a campaign flack, not a press secretary, and should be paid by Trump's re-election campaign payroll budget, instead of by the taxpayers.
Since she is, however, being paid by the taxpayers, Congress should call her to the Hill to speak under oath about her role. Under oath, she told Mueller the truth (we think). Under oath, her contempt for the Congress and the Constitution will be clear to the American people, even the Fox news "friends" she laughs with on a regular basis. Then let her defend her paycheck.
9
Ms. Cottle brings up some very important points regarding the importance of the press briefings and the honesty of the press secretary.
However she writes not one word about the lack of proper decorum by many of the press. I noticed this some years ago when Jay Carney was Obama's spokesmen - it was shameful the way he was treated. I suggest the press briefings be conducted with a transcript being released - NO video. I think this would stop alot of the grandstanding that is taking place.
1
The press' job is not to punish Sanders or to be emotional over their treatment by the WH. Not showing up, not following tweets, not being present whenever Trump is in the mood to self promote would be dereliction of duty. They bear witness for us in good times and bad and by doing so sound an alarm the we all should be hearing by now.
The press briefings were the canary in the coal mine. Perhaps, they were perfunctory and an opportunity for presidents go push spin but a good journalist knew how to find the truth. But Trump with his helper, Sanders are afraid of truth and upended the precedent of the fourth estate and thereby the people to question the president and his agents. Trump wants only his reality to be our understanding. the Tweet speaks.
So first it was the press that was censored. We should have protested the being of the censorship. Today we witness Trump moving right on to constitutional obstruction dismantling piece by piece the checks and balances that democracy needs to defend against tyranny and makes the gov't accountable. The front page of the NYT is screaming a warning in news print that Trump is refusing to comply with Congress. Search for Sec of State meeting with R Paul where he implies the president can unilaterally declare war on Iran.
We are in trouble, the canary is shrill and weakening. Time has run out on hoping the Republicans will protect us instead of their party. We are left to defend the country when our representatives will not.
2
She's ceased holding press conferences.
GOOD!!!
Several hours and one less set of abject lies to which a free press and intelligent listeners need be subjected
1
5
The fact there are are some comments actually defending Huckabee is proof, if any was needed, that Trumpistas have lost both moral compasses and sense of reality.
They live on a planet called Faux News, are adamant it is called planet Earth, and, unlike certain naked Emperor, pay no attention to the voices telling them they have no clothes on.
12
Yes, it is a significant break with protocol and the President dishonors his position in many ways. But just think of it from his point of view. Why should his staff go out of his way to dialogue with a press that largely, repeatedly and obsessively dishonors him?
I didn't see a similar outcry from the Times when Obama decided not to host Congressional leaders at Camp David, which has been the tradition for Presidents and was an important sign of cooperation and mutual respect. Instead he played basketball with his aides.
Don't journalistic principles call for covering both sides of all Presidents?
3
He has never shown honorable behavior. The press holds him accountable.
11
@Concerned Citizen He dishonors, not only himself but the office he purports to hold. The press just reports what he says and does. Your faux outrage at Obama playing basketball is entirely out of proportion with the kakistocracy we are living through today.
11
@Concerned Citizen Trump antagonized the press from Day One - and now he's getting what he deserves.
12
Ms. Sanders is one of the great cowards of our time. Cowed by her boss, she regularly betrays the public interest and her own integrity (if any) by peddling the party line. It’s really shameful, but apparently Ms. Sanders does not do shame.
14
Press Conferences?, don't you mean open warfare between the press and Sanders.
6
@Hal
The Press- doing their best to inform the American public and keep power in check.
Huckabee Sanders- doing her best to lie and deceive to keep Trump in power.
13
Does she golf? Is she out on the links at some Trump course somewhere? What DOES she do? Her lies are painfully unconvincing so she must not spend much time crafting them. But perhaps a better question is: Why would any reputable news organization attend one of her rare briefings? All that's needed is one intern with a phone and a recording app. If she says anything of value (unlikely), it can be transcribed. She's the very embodiment of "fake news."
9
It's a relief not to be subjected to reporting of her bald-faced lies day after day after day. The less visibility she has the better.
14
Let me clue some of the posters here in.
This is not the case of a beleaguered press secretary doing her best while the jackals of the press attack her. Instead, it is very much the opposite.
Sanders has worked very hard to defend the actions and policies of Trump, who is corrupt, foolish, ignorant and in other ways incapable of functioning as President. Since she lacks a defensible subject or material, and the real skills a press secretary needs, she has arrogantly sneered her way through press briefings and regularly attacked reporters, emulating a man she has said God placed in the Oval Office. Since truth is almost never on her side, she has used smoke, mirrors and outright lies to serve. Just like Trump.
Reporters both in and outside Washington have struggled to cover Trump and his minions, enduring attacks from a man who couldn't care less about the truth about anything. Sanders, seems to agree with this view, perhaps because as a "Christian" fanatic, she can say anything in the service of God.
17
If the press secretary is no longer briefing the press, what is she doing all day? Playing cards?
13
@Emily She's still defending Donald Trump as God-given.
3
@Emily
Watching TV , soap opera etc.
1
So SHS' shameless mendacity makes her unqualified to be the WH Press Secretary. How about unfit to be a parent?
8
Perhaps she could be hired on a per diem basis. Even if she only gave the rare presser it might still be of use to see how far from reality the white house was living from time to time. Make America Delusional Again.
5
Ms. Sanders foregoing her usual charade, sourly and resentfully trotting out lies and misdirections to the People, is not at all a loss for the country. White House journalists surely have other sources from which to get truthful news. I think it's a net gain for the People not to have Sanders' lies, unbelievable rationalizations and warped explanations polluting the news stream.
17
Ms. Sanders will soon need to move to Montana where no one might notice her. Far outside Great Falls is a bump in the road called, Big Sandy. Big Sandy is certainly her spot where no one goes or hears about. She can get a double wide house trailer with a tractor shed for $50k and the abandon car can be used for the children to play in.
3
I will never forget the soft-ball TV interview of Donald Trump by Sarah's father Mike Huckabee on Huckabee's newly launched (Christian?) TV channel ---don't even care to locate where it runs -- which was a total sham as Trump launched into his usual propaganda.
Both smiling, Huckabee asked one harmless snowflake question after another, and Trump gloriously went along, spilling both junk and venom. The fix was in from the start.
Christian complicity will not confront the evil that we face with this con-man in the oval office.
14
An all-hat, no cattle nothing burger. The damage she has done to our Republic is unforgivable. She should go back to whatever two-bit time she came from to languish in obscurity for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, I see a lucrative career as an empty talking head on Fox where she will continue to spin her web of lies. A reprehensible individual.
21
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is more than a menacing panderer;
She’s a lifeless machine, whose briefings are lean;
And hardly ever addresses what matters!
8
LIes, and the lying liars who tell them. It was a great book from Al Franken, and the title, at least, describes the Trump administration perfectly.
11
“What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who holds the title of White House press secretary?”
Her job—at which she’s been shockingly successful—is precisely one of being a female Trump impersonator. To the best of her ability, on a daily basis: she spins, she prevaricates, she dodges, she bullies, she offends, she plays the victim, she deflects blame, she crosses once-uncrossed lines, she threatens, she shocks, she invents facts, and she avoids 99% of the media, save Fox propaganda outlets. THAT, in a nutshell, is her job. Sad.
10
The daily press briefing had become useless. Nothing but a bear-baiting session used by a relatively small number of reporters to insult Sanders and make statements only faintly phrases as “questions” such as “Is the President a racist?”
Some of the TV reporters only use it to pick fights for video that can be used over and over again by their media outlets, in hopes of becoming household names, possibly stars.
Sanders’ real job is facilitating serious interviews for members of the entire White House press corps, nearly 1000 members, with administration officials. This enables them to develop their stories with greater understanding of how the Administration works, its goals and policies, and how those are being implemented.
The ridiculous criticisms of Sanders physical appearance, her parentage, and every single word out of her mouth, only belies the lack of seriousness of some members of the WH press corps and the media, the public, and the commenter of the NYT.
They ignore her real job and diminish themselves by this display of ignorance and pettiness.
3
@Park bench The ignorance and pettiness is in the White House.
7
@Park bench
How many Trump WH press corps members did it take to develop a story about the size of the crowd at the Trump inauguration?
Sarah's such a pro at her job that I'm sure she would have spun that one far better than Spicer.
3
Well Now, Sarah is in a position of lying or not appearing. So I would suppose that she has nothing TRUTHFUL to report, and defend!!
3
And the republicans sit by...
10
By the way, I think Ms. Sanders’ absence may be more personal than we all think. Look at the nearly perfect symmetry of her face now. Her face no longer looks like a Picasso painting.
Has anybody else noticed that the symmetry of Ms. Sanders’s face is no longer off? Look at all her old photos and you will see what I mean.
I suspect her absence from the podium is because she has been under the care of a very excellent plastic surgeon. I know that it still doesn’t justify her lies.
So, I only have one question: Ms. Sanders who fixed your face?
2
Leaving aside the lies (detestable), I would think that the decision on how often to hold press conferences with the White House press corps is not left to Huckabee-Sanders alone. Bill Shine, former Fox News deputy, was hired in July 2018 and I would think he and Trump also played a significant role in this decision.
132
@Subscriber Shine quit March 8, to (ostensibly) work on the "campaign". Would have been interesting to see the dynamic between him and SS.
13
@Subscriber
Her boss is Trump, so it seems to be obvious that he told her to stop holding daily briefings ...
18
For sure we the people should not be paying her salary to lie to us. She is not to be taken seriously and the press should just refuse to give her the time of day. It's giving her too much respect that she does not deserve.
14
Who in their right mind would want to stand up in front of a mob of attackers, posers who are trying to make themselves the story instead of just report, all day, every day.
.
The press has done as much harm to the institution of the presidency and to democracy as Trump. Overwhelmingly biased, the US's press can no longer claim to just be reporting news. That damage is much more durable than a one- or two-term Trump presidency will ever be.
222
@West Coaster - Sorry, reporting reality and facts is not "harming the institution of the presidency". All the harm has been done by Trump, and he's not stopping the downward spiral so far... You are correct though, the damage is much more durable than a one- or two-term (God forbid!) will ever be.
1188
The press did not wake up one fine morning and decide to attack Ms. Sanders. Rather they became increasingly frustrated with the "alternative facts" mentality in the White House. They did not start out being "biased". The discovered that the president they were trying to cover was behaving in multiple ways that were so deceitful and corrupt that it was nearly impossible to take him seriously, much less respect him. The press has done its best trying to get at the truth. It has been a frustrating job as they get verbally demeaned on an almost daily basis by the Fox-Trump machine. If anyone will save democracy during this shocking so called presidency, it will be the press. @West Coaster
1069
@West Coaster
I think it might be useful to the (implied) debate here for you to have supplied an idea of what you consider "overwhelmingly biased".
Simply throwing down such a characterization without any support whatsoever is the stuff of less than reliable news sources, in my own observation.
If you want to engage people, try appealing to their (assumed) intelligence by attempting yourself to appear somewhat objective, id' suggest.
Haven't we all had more than enough of attack-dog tactics?
Rational debate, i'd submit, finds its tenor elsewhere.
293
She must be exhausted. Between working for Trump and facing the media she's in a no win situation.
66
@Julia - The media are doing their jobs. If she actually did hers she wouldn't find it so exhausting to face them.
69
@Julia She can start by actually answering questions without lying.
70
@Julia - If she cared about our country she would dispense with the lying, but everyone in the great Trump Swamp is in it for themselves and for the benefit of the international deep state they serve.
45
If only -- the next time she does have an official news media briefing, no one showed up. If only -- the press and media would ignore Donald Trump and his tweets. How sweet the world would be. And DJT's head would explode. If only.
11
No knowledgable person needed the Mueller Report to know that Sanders - like Trump - is a liar.
But what this article (and so many others) ignores is that every "journalist" who's sat in the briefing room and gave her an audience (after her first week or so) is complicit in her lies.
9
SHS is and has been a pathetic "news" rep for the White House, with a continuous tendency to lie to cover over the gross actions of Donald Trump and company. If there are any reporters or journalists who have integrity, they should no longer attend any meeting this woman calls for the purpose of "updating" whatever it is she intends.
6
Nothing shows a liar better than purposely miscounting, be it a by quick change artist, a swindler, or a maker of big claims. As toddlers we learn to count, and to count truly.
In front of us we now have Sander's countless employee complaints (to besmirch a public servant) as followup to Spicer's once bulging crowds to falsely bolster up another.
An unaccountable administration senselessly shaming itself.
1
This only reflects the pinions of a dictatorship. Sanders is but one more unintelligent puppet of this administration. Don't meet the press, the backbone of a free democracy. Trump must be deposed and America must learn to never again give in to the lies of a despot. This is an illegitimate and rogue administration.
7
@Karn Griffen
"This is an illegitimate and rogue administration" ... colluding with a largely amoral Senate. History will have the last word. "Where were you when the Senate trashed our Constitution?" ask McConnell's and others' descendants. It will be very ugly, indelible stain on the legacies of all of them.
2
In a dream scenario Jesus would come back as a reporter assigned to the WH Briefing Room. Every time he asked Sanders a question a chunk of her hair would fall out with each lie she told. In a matter of a few minutes (assuming she would allow Jesus to ask follow up questions), she would be standing at the podium as bald as a bowling ball.
4
I remember her invoking God as her ultimate judge. It is so sickening. Hiding behind the mantle of religion.
11
She is lucky there are no gods. There is karma though, and something tells me Sanders has a lot of bad debt in that account.
2
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is an immoral enabler with a reputation that will follow her for the rest of her life. Once you've declared yourself a liar, that's your brand. Once you've show the world you are willing to sell your soul to the devil, that's your jam.
I always have a special degree of hatred for those who know better but are weak….. She is such a person. Unlike Trump, who is visibly broken, she is not mentally ill. She is, instead, a greedy purveyor of lies and misery for personal gain. You could not pay me enough money to break bread with her.
She is beyond redemption.
14
She lies and then lies again so who wants to listen to lying Sanders anyway?
9
“Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.” - Roger Stone
9
No big loss. In fact, a truly welcome break from this amoral woman's constant lying.
8
I have never cared for her attitude, which is evident at press conferences. It's obvious she grew up getting whatever she wanted, had no respect for anyone, and used the 'don't you know who my father is' prep school defence to threaten people. If my kid acted like that, they'd get a good swat & grounded for six weeks. She clearly had no parent grab her by the chin and say - 'NO. You do NOT treat people that way'. She sighs at her audience as if these are peons who are lucky to be in her presence.
She needs to go to prison. She lied under oath. 20 years in that Alabama prison we've been hearing so much about might be a big attitude adjustment & character builder for her.
10
Once this horror-show of a presidency is over, these people should not simply be welcomed back into the society they worked so hard to destroy and enjoy themselves. There has to be some accountability and if the senate (and perhaps supreme court) can't do it, then the public must.
9
As a rose may smell just as sweet by any other name, Sanders' "slip of the tongue" will as readily reek of its falsity.
6
And this is surprising because why?
I care about our country and wish we had someone in the White House who cared about more than buffing his image and ogling women, but we don't. He's not doing anything worth briefing the press for. He makes his own tweets, and that's what's going on. She's not pretending there's more, because there isn't.
3
Great idea on her part. Freedom from the mess.
1
In a perfect world, the next time Hucka-Sans holds a Presser, absolutely NO ONE should show up. Airing her string of lies serves absolutely no purpose. Likewise, the media should stop publishing or commenting on Trump's unhinged tweets. If you're seated on the bus by someone like him, you get up and move...
10
" from the safety of Twitter, where truth and accountability are not held at a premium. "
Understatement of the 21st Century!
2
"Is a White House press secretary unwilling to interact with the press earning her taxpayer-funded salary?"
Probably not, but considering that all she does is lie when she gets up in front of the press, maybe paying her to keep quiet isn't so bad after all.
5
Given Trump’s propensity to lie, and Sanders’s propensity to repeat said lies, what’s the point of a briefing anyway with this administration. Truth is at a premium in this WH. I don’t believe anything Trump of Sanders have to say. But yeah, what exactly are we paying her to do - play Fortnite on her iPad all day?
4
Was the murder of Jamal Khashoggi nothing but one government's extreme example of how a patrimony silences criticism & opposition?
Is Ms. Sanders' isolation of the press merely another example of a patrimony's silencing of criticism & opposition? After all, the history of Ms. Sanders' press conferences is one of a highly capable press asking penetrating, relevant & material questions about a government's policies & practices. It is not the history of an administration informing the public.
The news staff of the Times has not done a very good job reporting on how the Trump administration & Republican party ARE a patrimony (what with the Republican's development of our Constitution's Article II-provisions on the the Executive branch into a 'unitary Executive' that is indistinguishable from a patrimony). The Times' staff working on articulating its opinion on this administration's press conferences should at least opine on how the Trump administration is brutal on the press like a patrimony needs to be & how such brutality is inconsistent with the 1st Amendment & a democratic republic.
2
She's in the Sean-Spicer-hiding-in-the-bushes phase of her tenure.
6
Does she realize that Trump won't be President forever and her marketability after he leaves office is going to be severely impaired? Who would hire her? Does credibility mean nothing to her? Has she no conscience?
1
Fox will hire her.
Have Congress interview her under oath as she was for the Mueller report...apparently when under oath (and under the threat of actual punishment for spreading untruths) , her words become more true. Swear her in. No sense in wasting our time listening to her otherwise.
2
Why would Ms. Sanders care what the Enemy of the People thinks? She is doing God’s work, defending His messenger as he delivers tax cuts to billionaires and stacks the court so it can deliver on the evangelicals’ dreams.
4
For the Trump administration lying to the press and the public is a planned out tactic, willfully and knowingly practiced on an almost daily basis. Sanders will try to defend this practice by claiming the "heat of the moment" excuse or the 'I was only repeating the information I was given" defense. But by this time she knows without a doubt that even if she did not know they were lies at the time she spewed them out to the world that her boss is perfectly comfortable with letting her repeat these falsehoods. "I didn't know" is not a valid defense when you know that he will lie to you first before you repeat those lies to the American public. A person with any sense of morality would resign rather then continue to participate in such blatant falsehoods.
2
If Ms. Sanders takes to the podium, she will be laughed out the door, and should be. She has no credibility. She's a bad joke, and should be laughed at like one.
3
Great idea! Get rid of Sanders’ salary, stop wasting the press’ time, and most of all, make clear the charade that we have a democratic president.
Or, have Trump speak (not that he’d want to answer to the ‘fake’ media or ‘failing’ NYT, or that we’d get closer to the truth), but at least you get the one supposedly in charge
2
Maybe Sanders and her boss should be forced to binge-watch The West Wing.
1
Attending these fake press briefing propangda parties damages the public interest. The problem is that the 24 hour news cycle must be constantly fed and evidently world news doesn't exist as far as cable news is concerned. (One guy I know thought the Irish backstop was a soccer move.) It's in the interest of the media to keep Sarah "Baghdad Bob" Sanders relevant. Business always trumps the public's need to know (pun intended).
When reporters started making news and only leading questions rather than true curiosity, it became a farce.
2
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has a job title and doesn't do any visible work. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr have job titles and are rarely seen working. Philip Carlo, in his biography of Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, writes that no-show jobs are "a classic Mafia setup" and that such positions were highly prized among mobsters. This is the world we're living in. No work required only 100% loyalty. These types of jobs appeal to individuals who don't value integrity and have any shame genes in their body.
5
Former Senator Rick Santorum, a frequent Trump defender on the pundit circuit was reduced to this amazing qoute by the constant lies coming from the Trump administration. Pinned down by someone else on the panel he stated " He doesn't tell the truth about a lot of things fairly consistently." Think about it. He wasn't saying this with any amount of shock or shame. He is simply resigned to the unavoidable fact that that President Trump will lie about almost anything at any time.
6
.Doesn't Congress need authorize expenditures to pay the salaries of the White House staff. Zero budget it unless and until the White House complies with legal process issued by the House and then make it a revenue source. Let the oligarchs place their kids on staff in return for payment, split 50 Trump/50 taxpayer.
5
She is the worst presidential press secretary since Nixon’s Ron Ziegler in The Final Days, and that’s not an enviable title to have.
11
Sanders should be under arrest. She has continually lied to the American people to protect the criminal president from justice.
That is a crime.
15
This is my favorite reply,so far, in a long list of clunkers!!
1
As many others commenting here may note, this situation was bound to happen eventually, so my only question would be "What took it so long?" I realize the press were reluctant to stop attending those pointless "briefings" because their jobs were on the line. Sadly, the importance of their jobs had outranked the embarrassing emptiness of that particular job. I realize that H-Sanders had her own motives for stopping, perhaps having reached some kind of quota in telling lies that serve no public interest. But then, you know, a stopped analog clock is still right twice a day. "Don't bother" is actually a perfect conclusion regarding this whole mess. Also, to my mind, here is reality catching up with a wrecked tradition. Trump and everything in this administration has been so obviously abnormal, that to think such traditions as press briefings could ever proceed as usual has been finally recognized as absurd if not merely naive--or stupid.
3
Start with this: every time her name is mentioned in print, add her family connection. So write it as: "Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of ultra-right wing commentator Mike Huckabee..."
There should be no argument about this statement, as a fact. And it would serve as a reminder to all readers (a not-very-subtle one, I admit) that everything that comes out of her mouth is really about satisfying the fringe.
13
So, what is the press going to do about the depth of lies and deception by this Administration?
Freedom of the Press....what about our Democracy?
Get together and take a stand.
It's your Country too.
6
She recently claimed that Mueller's statements contained in the Report were "equal to treason" - what more can you expect from a sycophant this loyal to Trump, where the only thing missing at this point parallels the way Eva Braun looked up to a certain someone she admired as a demigod and a hero.
The only thing missing is the romance.
She's a loyal disciple of a filth-driven autocratic narcissist.
And to add insult to injury, she shows sheer contempt for us, on our dime.
13
Can we be sure there’s no romance here?
1
I really don't see the point in writing articles about Mrs. Sanders. She has no credibility whatsoever. In a word, she is irrelevant, and not worth our time.
13
Ms Sanders is a federal employee, am I correct? On the national taxpayer's dime?
Where has accountability gone? If she does not perform her job responsibly, or if her boss is featherbedding her, either way, she has to go. She is costing us. This is our money.
13
Would it matter if she held a daily presser? she lies daily to cover for the daily lies of her boss. And Republicans in the house sit on their hands. It's shameful.
10
Take it easy on her. She grew up in a house who's breadwinner had the job of telling stories about ghosts and magic acts.
6
There is not much to lose with no press briefing. If there is one, it is all lies, and a continued 'slip of the tongue' message.
From what we have learnt from the Mueller Report, Sarah Sanders should resign.
9
A Trump "international negotiations" expert this week wrote that they've decided to do nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (rather than fixing it, as promised), because they believe that negotiations can't succeed when Hamas doesn't spontaneously agree with Netanyahu's take on the situation.
Will journalists be able to hold Trump and the GOP accountable for such a 100% flip-flop by our "master in the art of the deal"?
No, of course not. Just like with the wall, deporting 11 million illegals, an annual 4% GDP and replacing Obamacare with something better, Trump and the GOP instead are horrified by the idea that journalists would start remembering them their campaign promises, on air, on a daily basis.
So they flee.
I've never seen a weaker presidency in my entire life.
8
Sanders has been made redundant by Trump's tweets. Heard from any cabinet members lately? WH staff?
There is only One voice. One.
8
This is a broken, severely damaged White House. Before anyone gets hired in this administration they have to go through the Trump rigorous method of train for their jobs: lie, deflect, attack, repeat.
5
"Ms. Sanders admitted that this was untrue — or, rather, that it had been a “slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment.”
Presumably, one of the essential qualifications for someone hired as the White House press secretary would be lack of propensity for "slips of the tongue". A slip of the tongue might be a good excuse for an IRS employee to misspeak. But the White House press secretary? I don't think so. It's like hearing from your tax preparer that your taxes were messed up because they made an arithmetic error. We hire our accountants to NOT make them.
2
As $45*’s press secretary, Sarah Sanders has the best “NO Show job” in D.C.
The president has always wanted to behave like a “Mafia Don,” from his earlier failures at running several casino’s into the ground, stiffing contractors on his projects, swindling creditors and filing for BK how many times?
Now he is pimping his staff and former staff not to comply with Congress’s responsibility as a co-equal branch of government, and to do their duties as a check, and purse-holders of the taxpayers.
Who was the last president to ask a cabinet official to not comply with the directives of Congress and got away with it unscathed?
Of course the elected GoP officials, who’s salaries are paid for by taxpayers, don’t have the least bit of urgency to act. They oftentimes are the professional “No Shows” sent to Congress by their constituents, but are only their for their DONORS.
He must be super-envious of Putin and his powers, not to mention a Saudi Arabian prince’s cash and his war chest, even though he is a Muslim that he (and Jared) seem to trust.
4
How is Sarah Sanders lie worse than Adam Schiff telling the American people for years that he had proof Trump colluded with Russia yet didn't? He's an elected official and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He should step down.
5
@Kurt Pickard- Watch and/or read Schiff's "you might think it's okay" speech, and you'll see that even though he doesn't discuss all of the truthful and factual connections between trump, his campaign, his family and Russia, he gets to most of them. Of course, if you read Mueller's report, you'll get the whole story. trump is anything but innocent.
7
@Kurt Pickard
1. Schiff didn't say that, to start with. If you believe he does, please send us a quote. And if you can't find a quote, I hope you'll see that your hypothesis is wrong?
2. In case a Democratic Rep. would have lied:
(1) you can NEVER use lying by a political opponent to justify lying too.
(2) Lying as a Rep. is not the same thing at all as no longer holding press briefings as Press Sec., as doing so is part of the very essence of your job. So to compare here would mean to have a lawmaker who refuses to make laws, you see?
(3) Trump's press secretaries are lying MUCH more than any press secretary before, and much more than any Democratic Rep.
(4) If the people of a Rep's district disapprove of his behavior, they can fire him by voting him out. Press Secretaries cannot be fired by voting them out, as they are hired by the president.
6
@Kurt Pickard
Get a life please.....
Adam schiff didn't tell lie, still remain to be seen.
did you even bother to read the Mueller report.
at least any sane person express Mitt Romney like,. This administrations conduct is disgusting.
or Trump campaign is in cahoots with Russia.
I am sorry nothing less than that.
6
Obviously, Ms. Huckabee Sanders is worried that "in the heat of the moment" she may become a revolutionary by telling the truth!
Remember what George Orwell said:
“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Also,
"People that elect corrupt politicians, importers, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices."
5
There is no need for Ms. Huckabee-Sanders to hold briefings. She is a liar and she cannot be trusted. Attending briefings where misinformation and outright lies are disseminated is a waste of time and resources. I think the press should boycott the briefings.
This is just another demonstration of Trump’s utter disregard for American norms and the American people as s whole.
This is why Donald Trump will never be my president.
6
At this point in time what Ms. Sanders says and does, of whatever quality, veracity and relevance to realities’ complexities, doesn’t say or do what her role’ s dimensions require, both by tradition and by other considerations as well, is of little significance in our institutionalized culture of personal unaccountability by a range of policymakers, as well as other government staff. At all levels.All around. When the diverse American population, in a United States, united, at best, just by letters-semantically- enables a toxic, infectious WE-THEY culture to violate, by words and deeds, daily, created, targeted and selected “ the other’s,” what can be the importance and weight of her flawed behaviors? Consider- does focusing on the Trumpians and the Sanders allow each of us to be willfully blind, deaf and ignorant to our own active complacency, or even complicity, of what is allowed to go on to democratic values, norms and ethics?
To allowing American English to be transmuted into a dialect of Semantic Surealism in which facts, fictions and fantasies are “goulashed into unnourishing, tasteless realities for misunderstandings?” How does grabbing a child from the arms of a parent, seeking safety in a land of immigrants and foreigners, who historically slaughtered the original- indigenous, “losing” them in computer networks, not be considered to be kidnapping, for which the adjudicated penalty is...? How does the “executive-ORDERER” for predictable trauma not be arrested?
1
I am choking on my own tongue as I write this, but this situation kind of makes me...gulp... miss Ari Fleischer.
7
Maybe there is some good news in this. Maybe, since Ms. Sanders is the daughter of an evangelical minister and a Christian, this break in her job allows her to engage in some sort of self-reflection and to reclaim that part of her soul that she had otherwise sold to the Devil. After all, lying is a sin.
3
@Jackie
Her salary, paid for with our tax dollars, is theft.
4
She should be forced out of her cushy job, it is obviously not a required function under the tRump regime. More conservatives ripping off the taxpayers. So typical.
4
Do readers ever examine the small print in these articles? Ms. Cottle, whatever and whoever else she may be, is a "member of the editorial board". Does any reader expect a member of the Times editorial board to write anything other than hit pieces on Trump or on anyone else even remotely associated with him? Who was the last press secretary who went out before the assembled royalty of the country (which is what most of the reporters consider themselves to be) and did not support his or her president's positions on everything under the sun? More importantly, who was the last one who was subjected to the kind of near-daily vilification that has been Ms. Sanders lot? Cottle might question what the point is of holding a daily news briefing when, whatever they hear from Ms. Sanders, the reporters will pummel her while she is there, and then report only whatever they can find that will cast further doubt on everything having to do with Mr. Trump. That is not reporting; it is advocacy journalism, and reporters (maybe unlike Ms. Cottle) are supposed to report, not advocate. Maybe we should revisit some old news conferences held by the press secretaries of all presidents from Kennedy on up through Obama to review the Press's treatment of those secretaries. When did shooting the messenger become the primary goal of reporters? Or, for that matter, the editorial board of the New York Times?
5
A reporter’s job is to report the truth to the public. They have little recourse but to adopt an adversarial stance toward a press secretary and administration that routinely feed them lies. To do otherwise would be to abdicate their responsibility to the public and become a mouthpiece for the state, a la FOX and Sinclair.
7
This is another example of the incompetence that has been allowed to run rampant in the White House. Ms Sanders is as uncomfortable about fielding questions from the Press, as her boss, thus their need to use denigration tactics. One of the communications skills both lack is confidence. As long as Sarah has the backing of Trump, she will remain far from that compact little room, its frightening podium, and the intellect of the reporters.
2
The most interesting thing about the comments is the folks who love Trump think everyone but Fox is fake news. Wonder where they got that idea? And why have we all forgot what propaganda is?
7
Why is this woman not in jail for lying under oath?
2
I pay her salary. She isn't doing her job. I want her fired!
6
Add lies to the American people to the list of "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the Articles of Impeachment.
1
Since the 'news media' are the bitterest enemy of Trump, and self-proclaimed friends and protectors of people and constitution (which they certainly are not), then there is no big deal with not having that charade.
I first thought that twittering by Trump is idiotic but now I have to agree with him that that is the best way to get his thoughts across (I am merciful to him admitting he may have thoughts).
So much for running the most transparent White House administration as was promised. No matter which party you support this should be concern for all! Without transparency we are left with a dictatorship running gunshot all over the Constitution!
1
Ms. H-Sanders shares in the global incompetence, lack of moral integrity, willingness to lie and a forced obedience that all of Trump's appointees and electeds do. This is the hallmark of today's Republican Party.
Trump, rage-filled, yet ironically insecure, is a control-freak who aims to be Dictator of the U.S. He calls a free press, enshrined in the Constitution, an enemy of the people.
He uses Twitter and Fox News, not news organizations, to have personal control of his rants, yet fact-checkers stymie Trump daily. The White House has gone dark.
What would the Press Secretary offer if the White House was transparent? Here's a taste...
"We borrowed money, driving the deficit to over $1 trillion, so that the wealthiest 1O% could enjoy a massive tax reduction. We plan on doing it again in 2020. Poor and middle class Americans will have to pay down this debt with higher taxes, less Social Security and Medicare, and inferior educations.
"There will be no good paying jobs for other than rich Americans in the future. We will import HB-13 visa holders for the rest. Robots will drill and dig for oil and coal. There will be no jobs re-training programs.
"We support global warming, so you can kiss Earth good-bye. Trump wants to be Dictator. We support him and share his lust for power and wealth. You can kiss the Constitution and your many rights good-bye, too.
"We lied to you, and we will not hesitate to turn the military on you to ensure your obedience."
7
I long for a time when I don't feel the need to pay such close attention to the day's news and have to face family and friends with whom I vehemently politically disagree. When Obama was president I was grateful for his moral character and trusted him to do the right thing.
To quote Sun Tzu, the concise author of "The Art of War", this is "desperate ground".
To quote further, "The General (Leader) must be possessed of wisdom, honesty, benevolence, courage and discipline. A Moral Compass brings the people into accord with their ruler so that they will follow him in life and in death without fear."
We don't have that leader and we desperately need one.
Because "… a protracted campaign depletes the states resources… " we need to get this page in our history over with.
To do that, those with large voices must figuratively "Attack at points which the enemy must scramble to defend". I suggest pursuing the messengers: William Barr, Sarah Sanders, Fox News. Their proven lies are an easy target. Hammer home the fallacies they spew. Be relentless. The Mueller Report is out. If the messengers are vanquished, the communication to their base, their troops, will be blunted.
But also "… choose an elevated spot for your camp… all (well… maybe most, anyway) love the high ground and hate the low, and prefer the sunny places to dark and shade." We have the "high ground", they have the desperate ground so let's be smart about this.
2
Question -- Is she vulnerable to a lawsuit by the many people she has lied about, including James Comey? She really did cast nasty and damning aspersions with her "slip of the tongue."
4
Maybe the journalists should stop showing up. If you don't have an audience to play to, your word never gets out.
7
@MHV
How can they (refuse to) show up for a briefing if the WH decides to no longer hold briefings in the first place ... ?
1
When the Village Idiot spends most of his time watching TV and the rest looking up the proper spelling for his tweets (unsuccessful) there is nothing to be briefed about. The press should boycott the briefings, when they occur that is.
5
There's no point in anyone listening to anything Sarah Huckabee Sanders (or Trump) have to say.
They're liars (proven over and over again).
All questions directed to them should be about their lying and nothing else.
Just to keep calling them on the carpet.
They won't tell the truth on anything, so report that and nothing else, but what you can prove without them.
They hate to be ignored and dismissed.
That's why they should be ignored and dismissed.
3
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Trump, is now also a mini-Trump, with the retort, epithets, and total disregard for the truth!
3
@Quandry
Mini not hardly good grief...
1
Sanders will be followed by this shameful legacy for the rest of her life.
6
I don't miss Sarah Sanders's slippery tongue. Her press conferences were a complete waste of time and an insult to the collective intellect of all Americans. This article brings up the question - why are we still paying her? Begone, Ms. Sanders!
6
To be a professional liar a person must be rotten down to the bone.
But I changed my mind about Ms. Sanders when she eventually said that she "...hopes to be remembered for being “transparent and honest” when her tenure as White House press secretary comes to an end".
Since then I consider Ms. Sanders affected by a serious mental disorder, like her boss.
6
Maybe it's better she ignores the press rather than blatantly lie every time she answers a press question.
For Trump and his minions, truth is unbearable proof of their folly and double dealing and probable near-criminal activity.
2
We must stop pretending that Sanders' absence from that podium is a major loss to the broad citizenry. Her disappearance should be viewed with relief by those who truly care about truth and not ratings of the type coveted by the degenerate example offered on Bravo TV. If the media seriously seeks the real source of Ms Sanders' disgraceful performance, they should look no further than old videos of her father's silky smooth, evangelical performances as a Fox News propagandist. He taught her well, and now the whole country reaps the shoddy result of Michael Huckabee's family values. Meanwhile, the lame, listless, pathetic modern day main stream TV media just continues covering it all in the same good old fashioned way that they know. The same lazy, inept main stream TV media that saturated the last election cycle with moronic wire to wire coverage of a deceitful, lying draft dodger who had repeatedly disparaged a war hero and the surviving relatives of a dead one. And even with all that, that same main stream media now believes that their current broadcast niche is to offer up air time to a gallery of prevaricating rogues such as Kellyanne Conway, Steven Moore, Rudolph Giuliani and others who belong to that endless, rancid line. Then their enablers like Cooper, Cuomo and Todd act real shocked in response. I miss Tim Russert. Someone, please, recognize a need to reset the paradigm by shipping Todd, Cooper and Cuomo off to interview school until this election cycle is over
2
In the Trump administration as in his personal life cowardice & incompetence are the operative words. Sanders is simply mirroring Trumps behavior as any good sycophant would do. Give the poor lady a break, all those tweets, lies and spin are hard to keep up and interacting with the press only makes her life complicated. Sad
1
"I'll get back to you. The president has done nothing wrong.
Not to my knowledge. The white house has no comment."
And WE pay her salary.
4
Here's a fantasy...In the normal course of events, which is to say for the rest of us, if you're not doing the job you were hired to do, then you're counseled out of your position. Goodbye, Sarah. As one of the many for whom you work, your part in the boondoggle machine known as the Trump presidency has run its course.
1
With her salary of $179,700, she works hard for the money...
Yeah, right..
6
I wish the press would stop covering this administration. Cut off the very thing they crave: attention.
By hanging on their every word (no matter how treasonous, ridiculous, etc...), the press give fuel to their movement and assist in their ultimate goal, to destroy Democracy.
2
The NYT is correct to note this and signal how dangerous it is.The latest Sarah Fake-Tweet actually comes from Jared, who summed up the overwhelming Russian subversion thus: "a few Facebook ads"; indifference to ongoing subversion? There is no accountability. It's obvious that Sarah = Kellyanne = Jared = Trump, and there's one, phony, do-not-respond channel.
3
The headline of the article says it all. Folks who don't watch Fox News or read the NY Post have an alternative in CNN, the NYT, WP. No point in following the White House Briefings since there's nothing serious being offered.
1
Trump is serving his own agenda, not the American people. That is not a democracy. Neither is putting a party's wishes over the needs of the country. Tweets and bad, selfish behavior might work for reality TV, but is real life and those actions affect all Americans. Trump is bleeding the country of funds and weeding out anyone who disagrees with him. He is replacing them with yes men and keeping his agenda secret. Wake up, he may be a clueless fool, but someone much smarter is guiding this puppet into a dangerous zone. Our country can not take two more years of this treasonous, self-serving behavior. Get him out before we go under.
3
Simply ignore the lyin' sisters, Sarah and Kelly Ann. The WH press briefings have not had any value for some time, whether one tunes in for news or amusement.
Clearly, members of the White House Press Corps are able to report the news without the WH dog and pony show. In fact, the Mueller report indicates the media got it right, not the WH. The truth prevails, always.
3
Why do we continue with our federal income taxes paying her salary which is almost 200 thousand dollars for lying and doing nothing?
We need to fire the do nothing free loader.
5
The news media should have abandoned the attendance of these lie fests, after the first reporter was denied access.
3
And well that Sarah Sanders not continue to brief the press. She delivers misinformation and outright lies not information. Press should no longer cover here or the Mendacious One, you know who I mean: the guy running the Political Freakshow in Washington? With the puffy white eyes, fake hair do, fake talk, fake everything? Except real evil.
If she had any integrity, she'd leave. Instead, she helps him to erode democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law — with lies and obfuscation. Her manner couldn't be more condescending. Ironically, she and her boss purport to be Christian, but it's a branch Jesus would be totally unfamiliar with, given their ongoing damaging behavior and empty rationalizations. Hypocrites and liars.
4
In the past 2-3 decades, the conservative movement has been all about lying, cynicsm, and protecting their own.
7
"heat of the moment", ? there was no "heat". She was speaking from a script when asked by a reporter why she stated there were many in the FBI and both political parties who welcomed Mr Comeys departure. The reporter had talked to FBI people and they were all supportive of Mr Comey, not the President. Sanders blatently lied to reinforce her point; which was a scripted lie. Note: when someone uses the word "countless" it's a good indiction they don't know what they are talking about.
Ms Sanders had to sign a code of conduct/ethics (34 of them listed if I recall correctly) as a federal employee. She is an employee of the American people. Sanders has violated a number of them and ought to not keep her job as a result. A liar as a Press Secretary is no press secretary at all.
"“I’m sorry that I wasn’t a robot like the Democrat Party that went out for two and a half years and stated time and time again that there was definitely Russian collusion between the president and his campaign.” A red herring, not answering the question AND another lie.
5
Only a masochist would willingly agree to be questioned by the so-called press as it exists today.
During past press conferences it has become quite clear that the press is not there to cover the news. According to most of the press, the news has already been determined in advance: the president is unfit for the office bestowed upon him by the American voters and is an amoral character who doesn't know what he's doing. Instead of covering the news, the vast majority of the members of the press are there to grandstand in the hopes of gaining a greater audience (and all the money and fame that comes with that). It's really disgusting to watch. The "questions" won't really be questions at all. Instead they will be, in essence, a form of testimony and in all cases the discussion will be designed to box the press secretary into the false narrative of the press. All responses given by the press secretary will be taken out of context to misrepresent the substance of what was said. Then SNL will follow up each Saturday by finding some cartoonish manner to make fun of the press secretary and her looks.
If the members of the press were more self-aware, there would be a realization that a lot of misconduct by the press has been rationalized under the false theory that any means are justified by the end of undermining a terrible president. It isn't. Either you meet reasonable standards of objectivity, fairness and politeness or you are not a true journalist; instead you are a hack.
4
@Bob
You can not blame the press for the countless lies that the Trump administration presents as truth. Then when the press points out the outright lies and the undeniable factual errors the Trump propaganda still denies, deflects and refuses to own their errors. "I know nothing about the payments to porn stars" He lied. he was caught on tape discusing the modes of payment. "I have cancelled all potential financial deals in Moscow" At the very moment he made this claim his personal attorney was still attempting to finalize the Trump Tower Moscow deal and kept the Trump org. informed of his progress. When cornered with this outright lie to the American public they went the defense of "So what, it's legal" "El Paso had a high crime rate and then when the wall went up the rate fell " !00% factually wrong. Even after the press pointed out the false nature of his claims Trump continued t lie about the facts. There are hundreds of examples of this type of behaviour. The press isn't the problem. Trump constant lying is the issue.
3
@Bob
As the last mid-term elections have shown, today most Americans indeed reject Trump and the GOP as being "unfit for the office".
That in itself, however, doesn't give a president the right to flee from the media.
That he nevertheless decided to do so shows how weak he is - and it's the same inner weakness that also explains why he didn't start building a wall, didn't deport 11 million illegals, didn't repeal and replace Obamacare, etc.
Disagreeing with the media is NEVER an acceptable excuse for a president to no longer hold daily press briefings, remember ... ?
1
The Press should have quit this charade first and a long time ago. As others have said, the briefings were a joke anyhow - an insult to the time, intelligence, and commitment to keeping the WH transparent of the journalists who attended.
"Is a White House press secretary unwilling to interact with the press earning her taxpayer-funded salary?"
There is no one, anywhere in government, wearing the R after their name who is "earning her taxpayer-funded salary".
The republican party is the biggest collection of grifters and neer-do-wells since the declining days of the Roman Empire.
Everyone of them wearing the R needs to be shown to the ash heap of history. Next year. Every one of them.
Get out and VOTE!
2
Perhaps not briefing the press with all the lies she had to tell to cover for Himself will allow her to finally sleep at night. She must have had trouble in doing that before because her conscious must have bothered her.
I am in disbelief that our cowardly media has continued to show up to these lying sessions and did not coordinate a boycott. You all continue to ask Trump questions, talk to Kelly Anne Conway and others, knowing full well in advance that you are going to be lied to.
Trump has been able to manipulate the media for his entire career. The media used to be watch dogs, but Trump is good copy and you need the page views, clicks, circulation, etc.
That being the case, you have become his enablers.
3
Is a White House press secretary unwilling to interact with the press earning her taxpayer-funded salary?
Can press secretaries be impeached?
2
O'Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. 'How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?' 'And if the party says that it is not four but five — then how many?' The word ended in a gasp of pain
For all the religious spiel coming from Sanders and her father they cherry pick the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not lie and Thou shalt not bear false witness against the neighbor, have been conveniently ignored. To rationalize later and attempt to parse is sickening to watch. A new standard of family values endorsed by the Huckabee's and Evangelicals, now I understand why they profess God chose Trump to be in the White House.
3
Rumor has it that Sarah Sanders makes $179,700. That comes to (1/365) x $179,700 = $327.95 a day. So she shold be paid a total of $655.90 for her work so far this year.
2
I really don’t blame Sarah for not meeting with the press. The press has become irresponsible with the way they handle the news. They really don’t deserve to be treated like professionals. Look at Acosta and Krugman just to mention a few of the completely biased news persons.
2
@Dan Locker They're only biased if you watch
Fox "news".
5
What are Barr and Sanders doing to justify their (surely consequential) tax payer funded salaries? They both should be on Trump's payroll. It offends me that my taxpayer dollars go to pay Trump cronies that do not have the country's interest at heart. Impeach Barr, fire Sanders.
5
Is there an actual Job Description for Press Secretary? If there is and she's not doing her job isn't that payroll theft?
I for one am looking forward to the day when we don't have a president who rails, lashes out, attacks, tweet storms, thinks the alt-right is OK, separates children from parents, lies incessantly, brags about grabbing women's genitals, starts trade wars on a whim and gets security briefings from Fox cable.
In this light, Ms. Huckabee Sanders really should just stay home and work on her resume.
The obvious choice now (and always has been) is that we pay NO attention to Sara Huckabee Sanders. Her loyalty negates anything she says...as is true of so many others in this administration. Is it possible to say NOTHING about these people, to not report on anything they say? Why help them spread their dishonesty and betrayal of the country? Lots of followers believe them.
Every press secretary has had to deal with aggressive reporters. If they weren’t aggressive, their questions wouldn’t be heard or answered. But somehow other press secretaries have been able to navigate the press without becoming the insulting liar that Sarah Sanders is.
Maybe I’m giving Sean Spicer too much credit, but I think his anger and obvious discomfort came from his conscience. He was mad because he knew full well that his job was to lie to the press. Sarah Sanders has no qualms about lying and then accusing others of lying. Her conscience is buried in someone’s backyard.
4
would we rather have lies or no press briefing at all
besides, there's nothing she says that don the con hasn't already lied about so why hear it twice
this is NOT the way democracies should function - this administration has never believed it was there to SERVE the nation, only to line the pockets of the loyalists
She is what she eats.
And it's very unhealthy for everyone.
2
If she does nothing, should she be employed? paid?
1
Trump needs to change Ms. Sanders' title to "propaganda czar." That better fits her style.
4
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the unfortunate product of her lost-in-space father.
3
This administration's disdain for the free press is despicable. Haven't they heard about the First Amendment?
4
Save taxpayer money, fire them all and stop all the briefings.
2
Sarah Sanders is the least of our problems.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders knows her credibility is totally shattered. The her own lies have come back to haunt her. She stated that she wasn't a "robot", perhaps not; but she like the "good Germans" at Nuremberg almost 75 years ago was simply following orders...that's all, just following orders.
2
Even if she held a press briefing, why would anyone attend? At this point, she has so little credibility that If she said the sun was shining I would look out the window to check.
1
Trump called them the 'enemy of the people,' but that's letting them off easy. Our media is the enemy of reality, and the servitor of entrenched power. They've inverted their job description: instead of reporting the facts they are intent on hiding them. Because it's the corruption and criminality in government that lets the rich and connected rule over the rest of us.
1
Spicer was so bad that he was funny. It seems he was always on the verge of laughing at himself. There is nothing redeeming about Sanders who reflects the evil in the White House. Better not to see her. Jim Carrey's portrayal of Sanders is spot on.
We have a dysfunctional White House where the Spokesperson no longer meets with press corps for briefings, yet the President sends out tweets of his own making to reach the "echo chamber" of his supporters. The White House cannot explain their actions to the "free press", but the President makes sure to send messages to his followers on a daily basis, reminding them that most media are "fake news" and that HIS are the ONLY "truth"! Is this the United States of America? Don't we have 3 co-equal branches of government?, or did the GOP-controlled Senate and the Supreme Court decide to let the president become the "supreme leader" who is "infallible" and cannot be questioned?
2
1) Is it possible to ask the White House IG (if there is such a thing) to explain WHY this person is drawing a salary for not performing her duties.
2) I find it offensive that government employs a known liar to brief citizens on Presidential actions, although given the current President, she may have the necessary temperament and qualifications to do the job. The GOP my parents supported would never have stooped so low. The reaction of my grandparents and great-grandfather -- the family was GOP since before the Civil War -- I can barely imagine. Trump has destroyed the party, as he destroys the character of everything he touches. He is in the process of destroying America, and the politicians in the smoking ruins of the GOP are cheerleading for him. God Save the United States.
1
What an extremely weak presidency.
Apparently Trump only dares to insult journalists when they're absent.
This is a democracy. The boss of the president is "we the people". We hire or fire him, according to how he's doing. And obviously, refusing daily press briefings, so refusing to explain and defend his own actions, means refusing to let critical professionals interrogate you. That in itself is more than enough to be fired... !
1
Nothing works better than the press ignoring her 'meet the press sessions', to show how empty her presentations are, devoid of any and all meaningful information.
She must be on the chopping block, which is Trumps' modus operandi..."you are fired"
Even if Sanders holds a briefing, why should the press even show up. Do they enjoy being insulted and lied to?
1
Wait, I thought she was the press secretary. What are we paying her for?
2
Ms. Sanders fits a pattern for Trump female employees. Apparently they need to lie easily (see Kellyanne Conway and Kirstjen Nielsen), be rude and just generally aggressive and demeaning in their dealings with people.
For the life of me, I don't understand why reporters still attend this so-called press briefings. I agree with some of the other writers here -- walk out when she walks in.
1
Why is she being paid? She is a government employee, right?
1
What should SHS hold a press briefing for? I turned her off when she came on. She doesn't answer questions, she's combative and untruthful. There's no point to these things. Let's get Trump out of office through impeachment or election, and get a President who cares for doing the job with the integrity the office deserves.
I think Sanders, in an interesting way, is important for this country. I think she epitomizes the "new" fundamentalist Christian attitude. All the old Christian tenets that used to define that prominent religion in this country have evaporated. In its place is the practice of lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, cynicism, thirst for power and a host of other vices which are acceptable for the sake of justices in federal courts who oppose abortion. Many of the people who oppose abortion also oppose the welfare system in this country. Ironic and vicious I would say. Sanders provides us with a look at the new fundamentalist Christianity and I think all true Christians will turn their back on these charlatans, eventually.
2
Why would her father and her husband allow her to continue her job? Just by watching her body language and listening to her words, you can tell that she is not enjoying her position.
It is putting too much stress on her and it is just a matter of time before she gets sick or breaks down.
Who cares if this administration isn't conducting press briefings? It's been nothing but lies, misinformation, and vitriol since January 2017. The media should have started boycotting them long ago.
1
The job of press secretary is really superfluous under the Trump model of the presidency. So is having any press in the White House at all.
Dear Ms. Cottle,
Thank you so much for asking MY question: "Is a White House press secretary unwilling to interact with the press earning her taxpayer-funded salary?"
I keep thinking about all the Administration officials who lie, obfuscate, spin, and refuse to have a dialog with the American people. If these were employees of a private corporation, would they be retained?
They are not doing the jobs they were hired to do. They need to be called on the carpet and held accountable. I hate that my tax dollars fund this waste in government.
What DOES Sanders do for (presumably) eight hours a day????
1
I don't understand why the press even bothers to show up at the White House anymore. It seems to me that learned helplessness should have set in by now.
2
silence is also a form of lying, when the truth remains unspoken.
The party of Nixon is corrupt, and just plain mean.
But the lying; the lying by "avowed" christians; the lying about critical long term security matters concerning this great United States of America.
Just as a police officer has a sworn duty to report all crimes witnessed; the republican Congressional members have sworn obligations to uphold the Constitution, and identify and confront any illegal and/or Constitutionally prohibited actions or activities.
They have not.
"I was just doing my job", will not be a valid excuse for their crimes against humanity.
We want our Country back. Stop the lying.
2
We made fun of Sean Spicer, laughed at his gaffes ... he simply couldn't do the job to which he was assigned. Perhaps he had a conscience.
Why is anyone shocked about this administration. Trump does not believe in a free press. Lying, about trivial items and important items, is a willful tactic. They will look the world in the face, call the round moon square, and repeat the lie when any reporter points it out. Look what they did after Helsinki. On tape he gave Putin a not guilty verdict and then the next day claimed "oh, I actually meant guilty." Or there is the infamous I stopped all hotel deals in Russia at the very moment Cohen was still negotiating a Trump Tower Moscow deal. When the truth came out they did not deny the bald face lie he told to the world and went with "So what, it's legal.'" There are hundreds of undeniable examples of Trump lying to the public and since they have no sense of shame this will never stop.
1
I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Sanders household when it comes time for her to give her kids the lecture and lesson on always telling the truth.
Why even bother paying attention to her. She is not at all truthful. She Is only a mouthpiece for her boss. Change her title since she does not fill the requirements for the position of "Press Secretary".
As for Sanders she is a lost cause part of the Trump camp she will take the money as long as she can where else can she make that kind of cash for doing nothing.
The White House press corp has become the equivalency of rabid animals trying to ensnare Ms. Sanders and or the President. There are better ways to spread the administration's message than standing daily before a disrespectful and belligerent press corp whose only aim is to delegitimize the administration. Our press is as much of the problem as any political party or person.
1
In this day of video conferencing and interactive MOOCs where the audience can ask the teacher questions, why do we need the elitist White House press core from the elitist main stream media at all?
Journalists of old as in the movie "His Girl Friday" with Cary Grant based on the play, "The Front Page" were regular people who could identify with the general population because they came from the general population. Now they are all elitist who can no longer identify with a working class family in the Midwest.
It is no secret that most of the press elites dislike Trump.
The entire press briefing should be replaced with modern technology where others can ask questions remotely.
This is beginning to look more and more like a police state.
2
I could not care less. I do not trust anything from her anyway. And what questions has she ever answered with anything close to the truth? For that matter, does the truth matter to Trump supporters? The Trump administration is never going to tell anything close to the truth about anything. So why bother? On the bright side, it takes away a forum to spread more lies.
What difference does it make. Her "press briefings" were just a compendium of lies and obfuscation. We aren't missing anything here because nothing of substance was being revealed anyway.
@dairyfarmersdaughter
At least we were remembered on a daily basis that THIS is how this administration wants to operate.
Comedians can then denounce it, so that this kind of gigantic problem created by the GOP doesn't remain under the radar but gets publicly debated, so that citizens once again remember why daily briefings are important etc.
Silencing the media is NEVER an option, in a democracy, and only makes things worse, even with a press secretary who seems to be so cynical that she sees lying as being at the very center of her job description, as is clearly the case today.
Then why are we paying this person? If I did my job the way she does hers, I’d be fired. And justifiably so.
While there are many people who still know the difference between truth and lies, there are far fewer who care.
1
Who knew that the number of people you can fool all of the time is 40% of the American population.
How many can be fooled at least most of the time?
With the aid of psychological science, spin has been perfected in the U.S. - the land of the snake oil peddler.
Sarah Sanders would sell fake patents to her mother if Trump asked her to.
2
Well, it didn't take very long for the right to totally abandon their constitution, did it?
Just listen to what you hear from trumpists right now, and marvel at how much their position has changed from two years ago. That's how well FOX propaganda works! If Putin said/did something, it was right. If President Obama did something, it was wrong.
How can such tribal thinking take over America so easily? Trumpists actually SCORN the discussion and factual discourse, reasoned decisions and democratic approach that our founding dads took for granted. See, the idea was that men of good faith, representing the people, in a network of sturdy laws and independent checks/balances, would make wise, progressive decisions in their day.
The phrase 'in good faith' is what's missing today. The republicans in the white house and in Congress are determined to kill that democracy in service to a new, king-like executive branch. With them and theirs firmly attached to our new king.
2020 will be the year that republicans try for one-party rule, using Putin's playbook and Kim's propaganda machine via FOX.
trump truly believes that he IS America. He's that egomaniacal. He loves him some ultimate power, and I grieve to see it handed to him. The Statue of Liberty reduced to a servant, our constitution used for his greasy hands, crowds lining the street to see Princess Ivanka go by in her finery..
Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ only purpose is to endorse Donald Trump’s lies. As she has long since learned, lies can’t stand up to the scrutiny of the press.
If you stop worrying about the country and just focus on how Trump feels, this all makes sense.
One could argue the Press has abandoned its traditional responsibility of reporting objectively the national news. So the Oval Office is simply responding in kind. Clearly reporting on the Democratic TV news shows has no analog for bias in the nation’s history. So why be surprised. The leftist Press is focused entirely on criticism rather than reporting.
Since the President's lies and those of his minions have been well documented, one has to wonder why "the press" would even want to hear from them... Unless it is simply to play the "gotcha" game?
Unfortunately, that only results in further deterioration of the credibility and stature of the press.
("when you wrestle with a pig....")
A haiku for Sarah Huckabee Sanders:
Sarah’s false witness
Insults our intelligence
Please make her stop now
1
She is simply appalling.
1
All she does is parrot lies so, "don't bother" indeed.
1
You do not have a right to a daily briefing. If I were Pres. Trump I would invite smaller news organizations to be involved in the briefings, as well as the larger MSM, and use a lottery to determine who gets to be there.
@Simon
Somehow Trump finds the time to give a daily briefing to Fox News.
The only problem with that scenario is that will just invite people with whom he agrees. So we’re back to square one.
Trump also thinks The UN Building would serve a better purpose as a hotel. We must not become distracted by the side shows, continue to resist, mobilize and vote!
11
Since the main stream media turned the press briefings into a circus of which reporter can ask the stupidest anti Trump question it is no wonder the administration had ended them.
The msm has shown that Sarah Sanders certainly has more honesty and dignity than the vast majority of American reporters and editors
2
@John Gilday Can you please share some examples of her honesty and dignity? Also, asking questions that are not liked by the president is not "anti-Trump." It's the job of the press and something every president has had to endure. It comes with the territory.
26
@John Gilday
Wow I watched her lying repeatedly to the American public. What is an Anti Trump question? Asking for the truth and wanting a president not to lie repeatedly and bully his opposition or call those that seek the truth as fake news people.
So we should all hail to the dictator and accept his lies and crimes against the american public? If she stopped lying someone besides trump's authoritarian followers would believe her. Once you are a know liar no one with any sense would believe anything you say.
1
@John Gilday
I'm sorry, but that's no excuse.
Only in a dictatorship does the Executive branch of government define what a "stupid" question is.
In a democracy, what may seem a stupid question to you is often an important question for many other people, and "we the people", not the president, choose the questions.
And frankly, what is he so afraid of in the first place ... ?
I can't figure out why the NYTimes doesn't just have a couple of standard front page items every day:
"The Lie of the Day": from Donald Trump or a direct report
"The non-answer of the day": from The press secretary or other official
[they should do this for both parties if there is a lie available, but easily doable for Trump]
4
Sarah, it's the "Democratic Party," not the "Democrat Party." Just as it's the Republican, not the Republic Party. Since taxpayers pay your salary, you could at least get that right. P.S. Can we please stop paying for your makeup artist now that you're no longer giving briefings?
19
Ms. S.S., cast member in the President Trump Reality Show, knows her boss is the star, the only star, a tremendous star, the biggest star in history. For him, rating are everything. The show takes place in the alternate reality known as the Trump Administration which is based on reality according to Trump. The show is a star vehicle for her boss and her job is to polish his self image and make him feel glorious. That’s her job. That's what she gets paid for.
4
I think a lot of Americans think the press conferences are a waste of time. There is no good information that comes from them, because the press only wants to ask "gotcha" questions. They seem mostly focused on advancing their own careers, not questions that are important for Americans.
It is quite shameful also how Sarah Sanders is treated.
2
@Jlee67
I've followed press briefings almost daily for months, during the first years of the Obama administration.
It convinced me of how important they are.
In a democracy, the Executive branch HAS to be kept accountable by professional journalists of all political conviction. And it's not the Executive branch either that gets to decide what question is important "for Americans". Journalists ask the questions that THEY see as important, knowing that their job is to get the truth out. And once they believe there is a problem, they'll inform "we the people", which then allows us to vote in an efficient way.
Without press briefings, presidents can spin things as they want - and the media that support him can take over his lies without questioning them. That's unacceptable, in a democracy. We DO have the right to know the truth.
4
It is quite shameful how she treated her job.
Read the New Yorker piece from September 2018: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/24/sarah-huckabee-sanders-trumps-battering-ram
Who she is, how she got there.......
3
Who cares if he has a press conference and who cares if trump ever speaks to the press? He's a liar and huckabee-sanders , well she's a liar too. The end result is always the same. We're all being lied to.
15
If Sarah Sanders had any kind of moral fiber, she would not do the job she does. That she voluntarily lies on a regular basis speaks volumes to her personal character.
14
"Congress is not smart enough to understand the President's tax returns."
If there were a short list for a Nobel prize for utter, blatant distraction and inappropriate statements, this would top the list.
Even if it's true, that's all the more reason that the returns SHOULD be public so somebody smarter than the people who wrote the rules could decipher them.
10
This is what happens when the POTUS is stone cold LIAR.
It took American media about a year to be able to call Trump a LIAR. And since then every day American media prints every LIE in excruciating detail in an effort to 'fact check' the POTUS. Except in doing so, often repeating the LIE in the headline, American media supports and spreads the LIE.
Sanders' effortless LIES and support for our LIAR in chief is just the natural outcome of this Trumpworld inversion. She should just quit, Trump handles all his own propaganda anyway these days.
Nothing will change until acceptance of Trump's LIES as the new normal ceases. This is on all of us.
8
The people defending Sanders on this board are pathetic. She is colluding with Trump to undermind a tenet of our democracy: the role of the press in holding an administration accountable to the public.
19
It’s an appalling situation, on so many levels: on requirement of public engagement in the civic life of a democracy, on irresponsible leadership of an President who does not care and has too much to hide, on public salary for someone who is happy to flat out lie to the American public, on a White House with a culture of division, corruption, obfuscation blatantly and purposefully keeping facts and truth from the public. Sanders and Giuliani go down in American political history as unprofessional clowns.
4
while normally i would expect Congress to ask why we should pay the salary of a press secretary who hides from the press, in this case I think the less we hear or see Huckleberry Sanders, the better. What purpose is served by having a belligerent liar "brief" the press, then excoriate them for insufficiently slavish devotion to her alternate facts?
762
@dave Since the election of Mr. Trump, and the appearance of Ms. Sanders I had anticipated that the intelligent, valuable truth seeking press would decide to walk out of her press conferences. The public has been blessed not to listen to her anymore and read the accurate news from our honored press.
19
@dave I want her to be fined a large sum of $. She’s a federal employee, there is a code of conduct.
16
@dave
The point is to create records. As far as I'm concerned, let her keep lying in public: the more press briefings, the more documentation.
9
The White House press operation is a broken washing machine, stuck on the spin cycle.
859
@Rena Wiseman
Thoughout Trump's real estate years when it comes to HIS machine, there has also been a money-laundering option.
80
@Rena Wiseman
Although the machine may be broken, I'd still urge Sarah Sanders to throw in the towel.
38
@Rena Wiseman
Too bad they simply weren’t hung dry.
33
Sarah Huckabee Sanders?
To the president only she panders.
Her press briefings? A joke,
She will never be woke,
But for Trump, she’s his perfect glad-hander.
682
@Susan
Submit this to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."
32
@Susan: I like your doggerel. My late sister composed rhymes also relating to another era: About Princess Margaret, sister of the present queen, Josephine Harrison once wrote: "Hey MEG, hate to beg but have you got a fiver? "(Fiver refers to a 5 pound note "entre parentheses!")
7
@Susan I keep wondering when the press will effuse to attend the worthless sessions run by Sanders, where she repeats like a parrot all the half-lies that his boss utters. Teach her a lesson by IGNOIRING her press confereces
29
If we're going to bother assessing Sarah Huckabee Sanders, I feel as though we could do so with a little more rigor. Cottle's recounting seems tempered at best. Sanders has been a non-stop blight on honesty and integrity since the day she was promoted. Probably before. She was deputy to Sean Spicer after all.
The sentiment of the article works at cross purposes though. If Huckabee Sanders isn't doing her job, why even have a Press Secretary? ...is exactly the argument the White House wants you to make.
Huckabee Sanders is an insult to the institution. However, Trump would prefer the institution didn't exist at all. Cottle just made an argument in favor of eliminating it.
4
This Trump saga and Republican party and all those in collusion with the attempt at destroying American democracy and rule of law, thumbing their noses at Congress, lying to the press, all this is all going down in history kept by historians--no escaping that fact. There will be a documentary just like the ones on Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and I can't help but wonder what their grand-children will think. Have they no regard for the reputations these people leave behind for their families (for generations) to deal with, to cope with, to even begin to understand why?
2
Sarah H Sanders is just one of many inflamed pimples on the face of this non-administering 'administration.'
She'll also be the least of our problems when Trump refuses to relinquish power, declares marshal law and outlaws all news sources except FOX.
We don't want to admit it yet - and most don't even see it yet - but the United States of America as we knew it is OVER. Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh have won - they have defeated Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton.
The saddest part is that our brainwashed 'citizens' just handed it over to them. Ronald Reagan tossing out the Fairness Doctrine at the request of Roger Ailes was the official beginning of the end.
The complete and final end itself is a little over a year away. Mark my words, especially if you think I'm exaggerating.
7
Sanders is a perfect foil for Trump. They deserve each other and the underlying fact is that they are both utter failures. This is just one of the countless reasons to vote Trump from office.
2
A peripheral but intriguing question: Why does she stick around? She's been implicated in the Mueller report and doesn't carry out her duties by standards other than Trumps'. Is this really her motivation? Is this really her sense of purpose? Even Sean Spicer and Scott McClellan knew when to quit.
5
Does it really matter when she feeds the press lies, naked lies, and bold lies? She's a petty distraction in the worst admin in our country's history. In that sense, she's exactly right. We need to forget about her, and Trump, and concentrate on 2020 -- take back the shreds of our democracy that still remain.
812
@Andy I agree 100%. But the US taxpayer is still paying for this monster! Are they going to reimburse the $?
58
The press should boycott WH briefings; put SS out of her misery.
33
@Tamza If there are no WH briefings, it is not feasible to boycott them.
10
Two thoughts about Sarah Sanders.
1. She is a mirror image of her boss: insecure and consequently a bully. Why she grew into professional status with such a personal ethos is another question but I can't help but remember the old line about the apple not falling far from the tree.
2. In a roomful of genuinely experienced reporters, she knows she's behind when she steps up, hence her defensiveness.
Given the fact of who she works for and who her father is, she is a sad and destined child in agony. Were anyone, her father or Donald Trump, to genuinely care about her and her future, they would cut her loose. I cannot imagine making someone live in their own minds with the kind of lies she tells the rest of the world.
1806
@txasslm
I appreciate your compassion for Ms. Sanders but the citizenry is not here to analyze and heal her. She is there to do a job for us and, thanks to her lies and intransigence, she is not doing the job well. Truth is she is not doing the job at all. How does she justify this to us, but most of all to herself?
137
@annied3 - Problem is - her boss and probably everyone in her professional and social circle think she is doing a fine job. Compassion doesn't preclude verifiable, factual knowledge of what she is actually doing. The danger is the temptation for the press to respond to her with equal disrespect and aggression because that reduces everyone to the same level of dishonour.
32
@txasslm. your compassion is admirable.
15
She has been caught lying twice. These weren't lies or prevarications passed on from her boss (though he lies constantly and she relays them on his hehalf), they were her lies. This alone amply disqualifies her from continuing in her position.
Can she be impeached? If not, why not, other than that no press sectetary before her has been impeached?
Can she at least be subpoenaed to testify to the Congress under oath regarding her apparent abdication of her responsibilities, whatever direction she has received from the president to stop briefing the press and her proven, documented lies? This would seem to me to be a legitimate exercise of Congressional oversight.
1122
@Bob Diesel
The Press Secretary is an aide of the president; she is not a cabinet officer; she was not confirmed; she can not be impeached.
.
The job she was hired for was to deal with the press on behalf of the president. She serves at his pleasure; he defines what her responsibilities are. Congress has no role in oversight of presidential aides.
.
Liberal righteous indignation is not going to get rid of Trump. To the contrary, it was an essential element that got him elected, and keeps him popular with his base.
26
@Bob Diesel: I think she could be subpoenaed and asked to clarify the factual basis of almost any of her claims. I would love to see her questioned under oath.
97
@Bob Diesel-Good points. It's galling that U.S. taxpayers shell out $176,000 in salary to Ms. Sanders who treats members of the press with contempt and disrespect--and by extension the American people. She sidesteps questions, distorts the facts, dissembles, lies outright, and covers up for Mr. Trump; repeating his lies and attacking any and everyone when confronted. She has degraded the office she holds and the only way I can imagine she rationalizes this behavior is by believing she's on a mission from God.
123
Trump and his minion Sarah Sanders have completely ignored or forgotten the fact that they are public “servants”. He isn’t a king, and Sanders is about as serious a public servant as a court jester.
They both have done irreparable damage to both positions, which they have diminished and denigrated.
3832
He isn’t a king until proven otherwise. So far that has not been proven.
39
@LF
I don't believe that King Trump or his loyal servant Ms. Sanders have ever thought that they were anything but completely committed symbiotic mates. It would be astounding to learn that either of them might have imagined for even one second that they are supposed to serve the public.
152
@LF
If only Americans lived in a divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states where all of the elected and selected members of every branch of government were their hired help.
But Donald Trump was selected either by divine royal sanction selection or an armed uniformed military coup. I don't really recall which one it was. Or whether it was both.
Donald Trump was not a covert stealth subtle candidate.And he has not changed since the Trump Organization moved into occupy the Oval Office of the White House.
33
Her credibility has been gone for quite some time, but now it's documented in the Mueller report. It would not matter if she held a briefing because she can no longer add value to the press briefing.
2
Maybe it is unfortunate in the modern era that the press attacks but that is part of the job. The press is trying to keep the world safe from dictators and from the destruction of the US. She apparently wishes she lived in 1930 with a less determined media and no 24-hour news cycle. So, until she can build a time machine, she will continue to not do her job.
One might argue that the Press Secretary belongs to a president's administration, therefore it is the job to obfuscate and blunt attacks upon the president. So, the less information the press actually gets, the better the press secretary is doing the job. Add to this the unfortunate personal attacks on Sanders, and you arrive at the present-day situation.
2
The dumbfounding thing for me was always to see the room packed when there was a press conference. Why?
Maybe if they did come, but then all filed out when she entered the room, except for one NPR intern who'd mail them a transcript. That would be plenty.
Or the intern could ask ONE question:
"Ma'am, the press corps has put together $10,000 and given it to a retired Republican judge to hold the stakes. They asked me to give you 100:1 odds that in a year, the judge will determine you just lied to me, and hand both stakes to the press corps to buy a round of drinks with. Will you bet $100 against their $10,000 that you just told the truth?"
Sanders would obviously refuse every time, and all America could have a moment of amusement. At least we`d get something out of it.
2
"Somewhere in all the give-and-take, the public interest was served." ... But, really? Was it?
3
I have often wondered why the press shows up her briefings at all. There has never been anything to learn there. The White House press corp should "collude" by all sending their lowest ranking interns. That might send a message.
4
Sarah behaves that she needs to speak with only his favorable audience AKA: Fox and their core voters..
Rest of us all are their slaves.. and they seem to not answer to slaves.
1
Dictators don't need press secretaries, because they don't care what the public thinks, and they don't want the public to know (or even ask) about what they're up to.
Wake up, America. Your Dictator is here.
12
Maybe Huckabee Sanders is holding fewer press briefings because her conscience is starting to bother her because of all of the lies she has told.....oh wait, she's a Republican....nevermind.
4
The poor thing grew up at the feet of the most prominent gladhanding criminal of the Religious Right- her papa. The man who has been running for President on our tax dollars for decades with literally NO SUPPORT from anyone anywhere while he eats the finest meals in the finest hotels driving the finest cars and bad mouths non-believers in Trump (rarely bothering with that Jesus stuff). The man who took Christ out of Christian.
8
Good, as a young person I am not exacty sure what the purpose of the press is these days.
Nobody voted for them, and it isn't 1863, I don't need them to transcribe the Gettysburg address so you know what was said, we can watch stuff live and in real time now, so what is the point of the press.
I think I would support a president who would dissolve the white house press pool.
3
You aren’t sure what the purpose of the press is?
Wow. I’m concerned what the schools are teaching you that you can’t understand why an independent press is an integral component of democracy.
7
@Emily If you don't know what the purpose of the press is stop being so lazy and do some research. The constitution would be a good place to start. You say you're a "young person." How young? Under the age of 10?
1
An example of naïveté here folks. Trust most politicians?
Who would have thought we'd have an administration with no press conferences and that refuses to allow aides to testify to Congress? Wasn't that part of the worst case scenario that was painted in 2016? And here we are!
3
The important point to realize is that daily press briefings provide the American public, through its press, the opportunity to ask probing questions of the president's position on current events and policy initiatives. It helps in letting Americans know what the president is thinking and doing. It is daily exercise of accountability of the president to the American public. It also makes the president think hard about what he's doing in anticipation in anticipation of having to answers questions at the briefing. Clearly and important tool for representative government; democracy.
Trump does not want to be accountable to the American public. He only wants to do what benefits him and have a one way communications where he makes pronouncements not subject to check or questions; hence Twitter. He has no interest in explaining what he's doing and being exposed difficult questions from the press. Clearly the mark of an authoritarian ruler and dangerous for democracy.
7
@P Lock
I see....
So because these "briefings" have slowed down, the NYT, CNN, MSNBC, WashPo all won't be printing anymore articles slamming our President and won't stop ranting and raving at every perceived "threat"?
Please. Just because our President doesn't give the Leftist press a chance to spin his narrative to support their continued "fake outrage" at every turn, doesn't mean information is not being released via SHS or the WH press office.
The American people deserve a flow of info from the President. Where does it say that flow of info first needs to go through the Leftist press??
2
Why are the taxpayers paying for someone to do a job she isn't doing? I know it's not the first time we taxpayers have done that, but this is an obvious suggestion for this case.
8
The smell of desperation wafts from both sides.
3
@Paul McRoswell, again with the both sides? I don't care how many times trump proves himself to be a mob boss who smells Putin-like power for himself, somehow folks ask what the Democrats are going to do about it! The Democrats are not the parents of destructive republicans, year after year. When liberals push back against trump, the 'bothsides' crowd sneers along with trump. When trump's cowardly congressmen disobey the law, it's Pelosi who gets smeared cuz bothsides. This is lazy, weak and peasant-level tribalism. Putin really does wake up happy every day, thinking about how easy, how effective, his sneaky KGB infiltration is. He even has the American president defending him over American facts!
If an American oligarchy is 'winning' to trumpists, they must see Democrats as the enemy; who dares to question Trump!? Seriously, they say that.
No, it's NOT both sides. Not for years and years now.
5
@deb
Yes, it's about both sides. Neither side is working for the people. At any job, if you are attacking someone for not doing their job you better be doing a good one yourself.
I wonder if instead she was given a cabinet-level position better suited to her skill set, such as Secretary of Propaganda — would we see more of her?
9
Actually, if the Preacher's Daughter won't do her job, then fire her.
Then fire Trump.
I haven't a clue what he does all day.
It's said that 60% of his time is spent watching tv, talking on the phone and eating cheeseburgers.
Look, if we wanted a bored housewife from the 50's to be president then we would have run Flo From Geico's sister, the one on the exercise bike, the one who moans, "Quiet, I'm working on my quads."
And, third in line for Mr. Lazy Award?
Mitch. We've seen him even less than we've seen Sanders.
You DO realize that you have written an article that says that Sarah Huckabee Sanders LIED..... "flagrantly"?
Isn't that a crime?
Isn't ANYTHING a CRIME with this bunch?
He's not a "president".
She's not a "press secretary".
Mitch is no kind of "leader".
No wonder Sri Lanka paid no attention to our terrorist warning. This IS unbelievable!
17
That's a great point about the taxpayer funded salary of Sarah Slanders!
7
Just when it seems as if though things can’t be any worse than they are in this White House, we are proven wrong. The lies and the misdirections start at the top and trickles down, no gushes down, to every minion of this president. This press secretary should resign in shame, as a supposedly Christian, and apologize to the American people for her audacious mendacity, day in, day out! How can she ever stand at that podium again, and expect anyone to believe anything that comes out of her mouth. Resign Sarah!
2
This woman's face has contorted into a permanent frown.
Not a good sign of how one is living.
3
@Ignatius J. Reilly
Not one shred of sympathy for anyone associated with Bone Spurs, who has it better than her? Six figure salary for doing nothing then when she retires a tax payer paid pension. She chose to work for this man.
This is no longer a democracy when low-level people like this get to call the shots and act as personal shills for a corrupt president. America has the right to a free press and the right to get the facts. Can we impeach her, too?
5
Lawrence O’Donnell provides video evidence about that Sarah Sanders not only lied about FBI agents not having confidence in FBI leadership, which Sanders admitted under oath was a lie, she lied about her lie to Mueller team while under oath - that is perjury.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P_83x218-84
Sanders read her lie about the FBI from prepared, written talking points - a premeditated and very deliberate lie about the FBI, designed to denigrate FBI agents and leadership so Trump could look better and continue with his nonstop lies. It was not a “slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment.” It was a premeditated, malicious lie.
Telling premeditated, malicious, complete lies is the ultimate qualification to serve in the Trump administration. Sarah Sanders for all her fake White Evangelical morality is really good at telling lies - not clever, subtle, occasional lies - but bald faced, in your face, obviously blatant lies repeatedly, constantly. All to serve her Dear Leader Trump. Wonder what Jesus would think?
9
she is not authorized to say anything true or useful. the press should board up the white house press room and go do actual reporting.
4
The calculus is really quite simple. In fact, it's more like grade school math than any calculus.
1. Sarah Sanders is unAmerican and a traitor.
2. Donald Trump is unAmerican and a traitor.
1+2 = Vote and get them out of there
4
Sarah Sanders should be held accountable for her continual streaming of lies to the public and the coverup of the treasonous acts committed by the White House.
3
What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders? To lie on behalf of POTUS. As if we didn't already know.
3
@Karen
And this is something that only pertains to SHS and Trump?
Robert Gibbs, Obama press secretary was advised of the existence drone attacks conducted by the administration. He was told not to say anything about the admin's policy pertaining to drone attacks. So when asked, he said there wasn't a policy by the admin regarding drones.
But shhhhhh.....this doesn't matter because it's not Trump
I am an undergraduate in history who has primarily studied the Holocaust, and this is what I think of the excuse of lying just because it's your job or someone important like your boss told you to: worthless. It's nothing but a sign of severe weakness in character.
Sarah is just a privileged woman who got her job because of her father. She could find a thousand other jobs. But she chooses to keep working for Trump, and she chooses to keep supporting his lies and his denigration of the American presidency. For as long as she holds the position of press secretary, she holds a high-level personal responsibility for the lies, corruption, taxpayer theft, and denigrating attitudes Trump and his administration promote towards members of the press and critical citizens.
7
Sarah Huckabee Sanders deserves not one iota of respect or sympathy. Like all of his sycophants, she CHOSE this. History has shown us that fawning infatuation with a criminal leader is no excuse for him, his crimes, or you. Historians were quite clear about this when they determined that the excuse, "But he told me to" would not hold water. It didn't then; it won't now.
The only people who will be remembered well in the history books about this administration are the ones who exercised free will and who exited when it became apparent that they were working for an unethical, inept, ignorant man.
2
Considering what she is forced to say and lie about, do you blame her?
@jhanzel She's not being forced. She is a volunteer and she is liable for her actions. "I was only following orders" is not a viable defense. It didn't work at Nuremberg and it won't work now.
1
Isn’t she supposed to be leaving? Or was that report a result of a “slip of (her) tongue”?
1
SHS has not realized yet that what she has done to cater to this President will doom her for the rest of her life. For a so -called Christian she has no morals, no ethics and certainly no good judgment. I would like to feel sorry for her but cannot. She is a sycophant, an enabler and should be held responsible for her participation into this lying scheme that is the mantra of the White House. Poor America!
1
Sarah would fit in very well at FOX and someday hopefully soon Trump will follow her there. At least I would have a choice not to see either of them again.
2
In a sense, we perhaps are blessed that Ms. Huckabee-Sanders has stopped blatantly lying from a podium in the White House. Now she stands outside the building with her blather, that almost nobody that I know takes seriously.
They might as well place a sign in front of the podium:
Out to lunch. Will be back in 2021 under new management.
6
If someone lies to you at every opportunity at some point you have to stop listening or at the very lest stop expecting the truth. You may choice to report the lie, but you should at lest state that you know it is a lie.
They do not like the truth this house of Trump
They do not tell it on a train
They do not tell it on a plane
They do not tell it here or there
They do not tell it any were
It is very sad that we have come to this point in our country, but here we are. It is simply foolish to expect it to change. that's the thing about telling lies once you start you just can't stop.
We have to move on we still have a country to run and a nation to heal. Vote the liers out it's the fastest way to get on to what we need to do to save our lives and our planet.
2
I stopped listening to Sanders long before she stopped giving briefings as I have done with Trump speeches. 1/3 of these briefings and speeches are lies, 1/3 are self serving (not public serving) promotional bloviation and the remaining 1/3 is utter nonsense. I do listen to serious news that reports on the whole charade.
4
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Press Secretary to the President
Need not have any experience. Must be an artful dodger. Must have a haughty, arrogant, condescending and belligerent tone. Must be deceitful and willing to lie because your boss is himself a haughty, arrogant, condescending, deceitful and belligerent liar. Send resume and references to The White House.
4
The comedian Michelle Wolf was excoriated by Trump supporters and abandoned by lily livered liberals when she uttered the truthful statement that Ms. Sanders "burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye.'' The Mueller report not vindicated not only the mainstream media's reporting, but Ms. Wolf's acerbic quip.
4
It seems the White House press pool just misses the opportunity to grandstand daily. Thankfully Sanders put an end to the daily obnoxiousness from April Ryan and Jim "LOOK AT ME" Acosta. Trump is regularly available to take questions and he tweets daily. His media availability puts Obama's to shame.
it's no surprise that SHS lied during a press briefing; it's also no surprise that weeks have passed since her last briefing. All we need are Trump's Tweets to keep us uninformed as to the inner workings of the The Whitehouse. The Post Truth Era is on solid footing from DJT and his now silent mouthpiece.
1
She like the president does not seem to understand
her job description. She treats the press with palpable
disdain, does not tell the truth and is a master liar and
gaslights. What is the point of her job?
3
Maybe it's because the news media has unfortunately become tabloid material, 24/7. Seriously. Look in the mirror. The news media are the primary source of divisiveness in this country. So much of the "reporting" is filled with inaccuracies, bias, and outright dishonesty. Yet, for whatever reason, half the consumers believe what they consume in the news media, while the other half knows it is essentially propaganda. Hence, divisiveness. Try just reporting actual facts that are verifiably accurate, without your biased opinion about it. Might help with the issue you're complaining about; that is, a press secretary not aiding hostile dishonesty.
I cannot get the point of SHS. She never had any information other than whether Trump would be in the Oval office or Rose Garden. "I don't want to get ahead of the President on that."
The absence of this kind of presser means the absence of a violation to the soul of America. That is actually a good thing. Now only if Twitter would shut down the other soul violation.......
2
How can that women look in the mirror in the morning and be at peace with herself? No values, no shame...Good example for her children.
4
Aren't we tired of this president and his minions screaming "Fake News!" while filling the reporter's ears with lies and half truths? Why isn't there a law that keeps our elected officials from lying to us? Isn't it somehow a breach of promise? Come on, legal minds, there must be some way to bring folks to task.
2
An interesting thought: making it illegal for lying in a press conference.
1
Fine. All she does is lie. She doesn’t spin, she lies. Except for Kelly Anne Conway and Sean Spicer, we have never seen such extreme prevarication I saw a press sec’y. I have no idea how she’ll reconcile this with her (conservative) God. That’s her karma, not ours.
2
The only people worried about this are the media. Why should she bother hosting them anyway since she is harassed as much as she is questioned?
@Once From Rome The harassment goes with the territory. If the administration was truthful in their actions, if Trump was ethical, honest and exhibited morals, then perhaps the harassment would stop.
2
A press secretary who is plagued by “slips of the tongue” that spill out “in the heat of the moment”? Okay, so she’s basically incompetent and unqualified for her job. Good to know she admits it. At least she fits right in, then.
2
Gibbs, Carney, Earnest--press secretaries who set the headline.
Ari Fleischer, Sean Spicer, Sarah H who continued to lower the bar.
Sanders is an active agent of fraud, lies and propaganda.
We should never hear from her again.
Same for Trump.
2
Wasn't Sanders supposed to be quitting soon . . . wait, why does it matter?
Instead of coordinating press releases for the White House,
Sarah Hunkering-Down Sanders is now hiding in the White House to keep from having to constantly lie for to the press her boss.
Don't blame her. What a miserable job.
I don't blame Sarah at all. It seems the media is out more for ratings then the truth anyways. They twist issues and headline things that are anti-Trump ban wagon. Its quite sickening. For years now the focus is to find dirt on Trump to impeach him and all he has working for him. Seems that the media has lost interest of topics for the what we can do to make our country stronger. If media and Democrats believe impeachment is the answer then all the Democratic party needs to be impeached. There has been illegal activities going on for along time and we have a president for the first time in decades that is fighting for American values and truth.The media and the Democratic party are "trying" relentlessly to shred him apart like a pack of wild animals. That will stop at nothing!! I personally think the actions of all the anti-trumpers are the ones that carry the most dirt and want to get rid of him before their currupt actions and swindles they have been involved in are exposed. I think the louder they bark hate for Trump the more dirty they are. They are paying and costing and wasting so much of our country's money and time and interest to do what ever it takes to take him down. Its sickening to watch. Anything Sarah says she is going to be labled a currpt lair. At this point its critical that every word that is said that it be something the critic's cant twist for ratings.
1
While I feel no pity or sorrow for her, she is hoist by her own foul being and acts for being the Press Secretary to The Anti-Christ and doing her part in trying to pull off "The Rapture" (trademarked, of course) and keep everybody fooled by her lies and wit. The problem is that the only people fooled are herself and Trump, and Maybe Donnie Jr.
Everybody Else is So Done With It and know that if she is speaking it is carrying buckets worth of lies for Trump. Not even the right wing wants to hear her because all she is good for is "Sticking it to them Nasty Librul Dems", because that is all they will LET her be, from now on since that is the position she has carved out for herself.
Talk about Sad!
1
What if they threw a press briefing, and no one came?
5
@Mensabutt
My sentiments exactly! It should have happened a long time ago.
First call the press the " enemy of the people".
Now denigrate, attack, and ignore.
You have now justified no accountability, at least to the shallow thinkers and fellow travelers.
2
The next time Sanders or the White House announce a press conference, the MSM media should send 2 representatives for all of them. They should hammer her with questions about the lies she has told and how she reconciles that with her so-called Christian faith. The empty seats in the briefing room would be a sight to behold.
2
What the White House is doing is perfectly fine... they were elected now they get to lead however the heck they want... that's America, take it or leave it...
That said: what isn't fine is that any constitution loving American would be even slightly OK with any of this... republicans and this White House are transparently out of control, anti-democratic, despotic and for hire.
I just wish republican leaders had any kind of sign that their base was not OK with this and then maybe they'd act accordingly.
So what? All she does is lie. Why do members of the press continue to debase themselves by attending?
2
"What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who holds the title of White House press secretary?"
Ms. Cottle, she seems to be doing her job as defined by her employer, which is nor the editorial board of the NYT.
If press secretary to you means scheduling meetings with press and maintaining contact, to them it means not scheduling meetings and maintaining contact in their way.
Just as it is inappropriate for her, and it is, to tell you how to serve as a member of the editorial board, you do not write her job description.
2
Based on the number of time we see her on Fox News vs the White House briefing room, I think Fox News should be paying her salary.
4
@Jeff Jones Perhaps in time they will when they find a need for a new comedian.
Does anyone actually want to listen to a liar? Imagine trained professionals listening intently to lies. Why would they waste time?
2
that is the best picture i've ever seen of SHS
“At some point, one cannot help but wonder: What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who holds the title of White House press secretary?”
The writer has got to be kidding…….Sarah Huckabee’s job is to follow the President’s lead and lie to the American people like the rest of his administration and GOP. To them our Democracy, the people and country are all sacrificial lambs to benefit their agendas.
1
The lady lives in a universe of alternative facts. Based on her comment that God wanted Donald Trump to win the Presidency I'd say that her universe also includes an alternative religion, and alternative morals and ethics. Saddam Hussein's "Comical Ali" at least provided a comical diversion.
1
This what you get in a dictatorship or a banana republic. Not a democracy where elected officials are accountable to the public
3
Just not having to see her on a daily basis is worth not hearing 2 hours of lies.
1
Sarah Huckabee Sanders follows in the tradition of her father, Mike Huckabee, the pastor who has never paid much attention to the 9th commandment in his public pronouncements - the commandment about lying.
4
The woman blatantly lies, there is no point in her briefing the press as she cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
1
Curious to know how the performance of our press office stacks up against the Kremlin press office . . . . Trump always fantasizes about emulating their operating style. And muzzling and lying to the press is a cornerstone a strongman's operating plan.
Why bother asking her questions. She will lie, she will make evasive statements and act put upon and scornful. Grifter.
2
We the taxpayers foot the bill for her exorbitant $180K salary. She “works” part-time and lies constantly.
Amazing.
3
SHS has become the U.S.'s version of Baghdad Bob. I would not be surprised to see her stand in front of Trump as he shoots a reporter on the White House lawn and claim that it did not happen then he was just kidding and finish with the claim that the reporter committed treason.
2
I don't know if Fox News is really looking for another liar ?
Seeing the number of Dems that are starting to appear on their channel, they might want a few more straight talkers - or am I dreaming ?!?
@David There is possibly a method to the madness of Democrats appearing on Fox "News". How best to connect with conservatives?
Bill Maher, the host of a political series on HBO, asks the Democrats that if Republicans are willing to "face the enemy" on his show, then why are Democrats afraid to go on Fox.
1
@Dan Thanks Dan. I saw that show and agree with Bill. So some Dems are indeed listening
When you serve the Pied Piper of Lies, you fall into lock step or eventually step out.
Ms. Sanders made a decision early to accept Trump's...
--pathological lies
--rampant infidelity
--"settled" racism at his NY apts
--demonized illegal immigrants (except at his properties)
--hypocrisy of embracing the flag while dodging the draft
--using his foundation money for personal gain
--ego mania & self gratification at all costs
...and ultimately will be defined forever by the choices she made being subservient to this POTUS and not serving American people.
1
Mrs. H-S, please show personal greatness at least once and resign. Have someone else humiliate themselves before the American people and the whole world.
somewhere-along-the-way....
this press secretary began to believe her words mattered
the reality is that they do not!
1
"Credibility, like virginity, can only be lost once and never recovered." - Charlie Reese
and
"Without character, there is no credibility; and without credibility, there is no trust." - Warren G. Bennis
1
Let them eat cake. That's the White House mindset. Huckabee Sanders isn't a true press secretary.
1
Good news is -- no more of her growling angry face. But, better than that blessing -- Appears that Trump - our Supreme Narcissist - has decided that he can do better hiding behind Twitter (cowardice prevails). Even has a former golf caddy to compose those ugly rants and multiple lies. A full time personal ghost writer if you will. Twitter clearly better than human shields to serve as his China Wall. The mafia cut out technique practiced by Trumputin for years, now found to be fallible. Humans can flip and also take notes for future book selling activiities. Sarah looking forward to a book deal - instant riches.
More power to her. No matter what she says the media will twist her words to fit their own bias narrative, so why bother?
If any institution has lost the confidence of the American people in the past two years, it is the media. How many times in the past year alone has the media failed us, embarrassed itself, and/or shown its true agenda in reporting?
Let’s just dispense with the self-serving myth that the liberal media has any semblance of objectivity.
We must look in the mirror - because this and other acts of the administration are now what is considered 'normal'
1) Press secretary lies, proven she lies and pays no price for it
2) The president is now simply ignoring lawful demands of Congress - not negotiating - just " nope - you cant make me do it "DJT
3) Stacking ( or at least trying to ) important jobs with either token incompetents ( Moore, Caine) and lackeys who obey without question ( Mullvaney, Barr)
4) Running the WH and the business of government as a private slush fund
We can blame, Huckabee, McConnell, Trump, Republicans etc -
we have only ourselves to blame.
Say goodbye to America - we have surrendered to tyranny from within.
Trying to play “who is worse,” between Sanders and the media is difficult! And played at a low level.
I thought Republicans were against welfare.
2
Orwell could not have written her any better.
2
Reply to all of the Trump fans who are claiming that it's the "media's" own fault for writing articles that question her authority, reputation, or loyalty to Trump:
The journalists who expose her lies and vindictive behavior to not responsible for her lies and vindictive behavior. It is not their fault. They did not "make" her do it.
People exhibiting abusive behavior should not blame others for "making" them behave the way they do. That applies to abusive spouses, that applies to abusive presidents, and that applies to Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
2
The only thing that keeps her going is her strong Christian faith!
@Chris Does that faith include blatant spouting blatant lies, treating others as enemies rather than "as thyself".
2
Her decision to shun the press is perfectly understandable. They were asking asking questions and citing facts.
Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge; these people don't even gargle.
2
Like Trump, Sanders is a creation of the media. Michelle Wolf explained it all at last year’s White House Correspondents Dinner (See https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NclJj1h_MW4). But the Correspondents predictably rallied to Sarah Sanders’ side, condemning Wolf and swearing off comedians forever. (See https://www.cbsnews.com/video/michelle-wolf-criticized-after-correspondents-dinner-act/). The Correspondents’ reward? More lies, fewer briefings, more accusations of fake news. They never learn.
1
If she can't bother to do her job, how about we don't bother to pay her?
2
Just another indication of how rapidly the established news organizations are becoming irrelevant. Oh the kicking and screaming!
@bradd graves
Are you referring to Trump's tweets?
I refer to his Twitter account as a playpen for a spoiled rotten crybaby who hasn't yet reached the emotional age of 2.
It's what you do in a democracy. Have you forgotten?!
Whenever I hear Sanders speak, I want to ask her, "Is that what Jesus would do?"
2
When Sarah Sanders decided to take on the role as Donald Trump's publicist, abandoning her role as White House Press Secretary- she lost all expectation of respect: Turning each press conference into a mean-spirited, vile opportunity to lie on behalf of her "client"- taking glee in the put-down...she honed her skill for being plain ol nasty and dismissive.
There's nothing left in her arsenal: Sarah-in-the-heat-of-the-moment liar needs to pack up and go back to Arkansas.
1
Next Democratic president should kick Fox News out of the White House press corps. There is more than enough reason to justify doing so.
1
I’m surprised Ms. Sanders’s ever present pearls don’t “clutch themselves” in shame on the rare occasions she appears at that podium to lie for Trump.
2
SHS is the perfect face for this administration at least by Saturday Night Live standards.
1
No loss...it's sunk to an acrimonious filled prevarication-fest anyway. Besides...
We'll always have FOX
Enough talking. Can we just fix it now?
How about next time she deigns to hold a press conference the press refuses to talk to her?
2
I will not allow the guilty to succeed by my personal sacrifice. There will be justice, something you revenge lovers will never understand. Make peace or suffer conquest you cannot defend yourselves against.
You should all know Russia has successfully divided us. I believe deep down, Trump and his people want peace. We should now let him earn it and he should come out and say it if it is so.
If Sarah Huckabee Sanders told me the sky was blue, I'd have to go outside and check for myself. As she is an evangelical Christian, I wonder how her God feels about her lying to billions of other Christians on almost a daily basis?
I wonder how she justifies lying for the least Christian President this country has ever had.
3
If she's going to lie anyway, what is the point?
1
Infomed Americans know what Thomas Jefferson had to say about a free press in a democracy. News briefings at the White House in the past have facilitated the Jeffersonian principle in this regard. As for Ms. Sanders she's just llke her father. If questioned about illegal immigration Mike Huckabee Sarah's father would condemn it, when as governor of Arkansas he sat in the governor's mansion in Little Rock doing absolutely nothing as hundreds of illegals poured into his state to work in the poultry industry. In this case the apple does not fall far from the tree. Truthfulness is not one of the Huckabee's strong suites.
How sad to be Huckabee, or anyone else who supports trump at the cost of their soul.
1
I'm not sure why the press would want to meet her. She's a proven liar, shows utter contempt for the important work journalists do, and shares little or no newsworthy information. I would love to see reporters boycott her press conferences.
2
She has no credibility left. Thank goodness she isn’t doing briefings!
1
There are plenty of respected observers who believe that the press is partly to blame for the conflict with Trump. Most recently Ted Koppel accused the Times and the Post of unprecedented bias going back to their coverage of the election. The press has unfavorably psychoanalyzed Trump with no tenable evidence. It has called him a fascist, suggesting that his rule is comparable to that of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. And it labeled him a racist for speaking of carnage in the inner cities.
Most of us are disgusted with Trump. But the press has the obligation to report the news fairly. The bottom line on the Mueller report is that he did not recommend impeachment. The press wants impeachment, as do we. But the real story is that Mueller didn’t go there, a point that is weighty but which the press explains away. The press isn’t even close to objective and I find the criticism of Sanders, without self-criticism to be a sign of the lack of objectivity.
Why should we even want to have press briefings at the WH when any information that might be shared would most likely be false and misleading? Why give the WH the platform to spread the lies as actual news?
1
Since its beginning in the Trump administration, the White House press briefing has always seemed theatre, and the author Shakespeare. But it has evolved from roll-about farce starring Sean Spicer to tragedy starting Sarah Sanders; with Sanders I have had the sense of seeing someone slowly destroy themselves in front of the nation, perpetuating lies and veils she likely knows are fantasy to defend a boss who doesn't care what he does to her or anyone else. Yet she can't stop now. The eventual legacy of the Trump era will be these shattered people.
2
I was jarred when I heard someone defend SHS by pointing out that it's not against the law to lie to the press. Well, it should be. It should be against the law for someone paid by the taxpayers to lie to the taxpayers (through the press).
8
One reason you never read about “questionable sources” is that the sources are NOT “questionable”.
A “highly placed Administration official unnamed because unauthorized to speak” is usually the official speaker on an issue for an Administration which doesn’t want to have names attached to statements.
They are rarely hostile - but telling the truth about something as malfunctional an operation as the Trump Administration will look “hostile” even when the no-attribution statements are authorized.
Learning to read a newspaper means more than whether unattributed statements turn out accurate.
You also learn the names of the reporters, the individuals and their particular areas of expertise.
Someone filling in on a complex subject may miss something (reporters need vacation time, and, sometimes just a vacation from the particular story they’ve been on for years) and the fill-in may not have the same contacts as the expert and may miss something.
And the environment: when NYT Publisher AG Sulzberger won a special on-record interview for his staff with Trump, the number of softballs tossed was amazingly - to anyone who wasn’t familiar with this kind of interview.
Reporters ALWAYS go soft during this kind of Exclusive Interview - usually because of an unspoken fear that they will “lose” their only chance to get close to a hidden target.
Learning to read a paper is tough - learning to watch TV news tricks even tougher - the careful “cutaway “ shots that disguise edits, etc.
2
How does Ms. Sanders still have a job? Nothing she says can be considered credible. She has admitted she lied yet still is a spokesperson. As for "it starts at the top," sure, yes it does. But "just following orders" is NO excuse. Mr. McGahn seems to have had a spine, others surely have stood their ground, too. But Ms. Sanders has shown her true colors: she's really no better than a propagandist. Disgraceful.
3
I understand that in an ideal world - or at least no the dystopian hellscape that we find ourselves in - frequent, informative press briefings are desirable and expected.
But what's the value of a Sanders press briefing? She - and the administration she works for - lie as a matter of course. I mean, Sanders even admits to it in the Mueller report! At some point it would stand to reason that there are much better ways to get the information you're after than by listening to someone who will lie to you without giving it a second thought, no?
1
What's the point in having a "press conference" when all anyone is going to hear is an endless stream of lies from some two-bit partisan hack like Sanders?
A "press conference" is supposed to bring some sense of accountability to the Office of the Presidency. But we all know that accountability and the modern GOP don't mix. And they haven't for some time now.
Listening to Sander's tell the "enemy of the people" that, "Donald Trump's footsteps created the Great Lakes!", isn't news, and it isn't going to get anyone anywhere.
At this point, the only information I'm interested in is how, and when, are we going to rid ourselves of that pathetic orange polyp currently residing in the White House.
4
Sarah Huckabee Sanders reminds me of one of my favorite bumper stickers:
"Dear Lord, protect me from your followers. Amen."
It's not that I dislike self-described "Christians," I just feel better when they're not around.
7
Greg, I agree! I’m a Christian, and I have stopped wearing my cross around my neck because I do not want to be associated with the Faux Christians!
The only question that anyone should ask Huck Spin is about when she plans to apologize to the American people for all the lies she has told.
3
Here is the scoop; World leaders are opposed to the various forms of religious belief because they don't want their people aligned in a multi-religion worship of God in whom all spirits believe. It is the key to history.
Oil is black gold. Light is Gods. Light drives the winds. feverishly accelerate infrastructure for alternative energy means. It is important. All our ills lead back to oil.
Maybe it's because the news media has unfortunately become tabloid material, 24/7. Seriously. Look in the mirror. The news media are the primary source of divisiveness in this country. So much of the "reporting" is filled with inaccuracies, bias, and outright dishonesty. Yet, for whatever reason, half the consumers believe what they consume in the news media, while the other half knows it is essentially propaganda. Hence, divisiveness. Try just reporting actual facts that are verifiably accurate, without your biased opinion about it. Might help with the issue you're complaining about; that is, a press secretary not aiding hostile dishonesty.
Are you seriously excusing lying to the American people? I do not care if the Media is 24/7! Lying to the American people or anyone IS wrong!
Ninth Commandment “thou shall not bear false witness” it’s quite simple!
1
Like everything else in his administration, he alone can do it. Sarah H-S, like her boss, is unqualified and has no idea what her job actually entails. Seems like a good match, no?
2
“What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders”? It is obvious — to reframe Trump’s lies to be less blatant. And having been put squarely in the light, as official liar and faker, she’s outlived all utility.
4
@John Brews. ✳️✳️✳️ Yet, she will spin and reframe the lie and Trump will tweet the next day the lie again. So, a lie begets a lie and on and on.
1
How Huckabee Sanders lives with herself is hard to fathom. And what business short of used car sales would have her after this?
2
But there was a conspiracy, an unspoken one. A mafia-like one. What we need is a RICO prosecution of Trump and every Trump affiliated organization and the leaders who understand that they should never write anything down when they can speak and never speak when they can nod. The meeting in Trump Tower was a bobble head convention.
3
The following statement is not an exoneration of Ms. HS:
Let us not forget that all this obvious lying began when Sean Spicer stepped up to the podium on Day ONE: Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017.
He was sent out to claim that Trump had the biggest ever attendance at HIS inauguration. NOT TRUE .... since photos of this Obama inauguration showed crowds far greater than those for Trump. Who do they think THEY are ... and what a do they think WE are if we would swallow that obvious lie hook, line and sinker?!
To this day, I wonder why Sean Spicer didn’t refuse to do this ... and, why he didn’t resign on the spot, if forced to do this.
The Trump administration has been LYING since the START!!!!
This White House has a deeply ingrained patterned of doing exactly what the “Moss Man” orders, with few exceptions to that rule.
2
Of course, you realize that Sara Huckleberry would not have ANY problems with the press, if she told the truth...
1
Sarah Huckabee doesn't work for Trump she works for the big money guys (her dad also works for the dark lords) who have an actual plan to gain more power (Koch bros Inc) and while they are at it, overturn Roe v Wade, suppress voters (of a certain color), block immigration, free corporations of any and all oversight and regulation. Just like Trump (who works for these guys). Trump has no plan, no policies, etc. He just signs the documents put in front of him by the dark lords. The rest is pretty much a freak show.
2
The daily exercise of doing things like reading the NY Times, in order to stay current on happenings in our world has become a daily grind. We are continuously assaulted with reprehensible behavior, continuously reminded that our world has changed, and left wondering if things like honest, civil behavior are gone for good. Readers like you will have a say in how things turn out only if you, like me, stay committed, not in anger, but resolve. November 3, 2020 is the day we take back our country. Please vote as if your way of life depended on it.
4
Thank you, for your comment. We feel the same way around our breakfast table, we stay informed and we intend to do everything we can to get the vote out on November 3, 2020.
1
"...I wasn’t a robot like the Democrat Party that went out for two and a half years and stated time and time again that there was definitely Russian collusion between the president and his campaign.”
Sarah Sanders is quite a liar yet it is very interesting that this article focuses on one of the most true and important statements she ever made (if you amend her statement to say "establishment Democrats.") There are essentially two main wings of the Democratic Party - the Progressives and the McCarthyites.
Ms. Sanders is well trained to jump from her present role as an over paid liar for hire. She can move right on into Trumps' state run television station at the FOX News Channel, and she'll fit in perfectly without missing a beat!
4
Blaming the press for the unwillingness of an administration to be asked to account for their policies and fabrications is not acceptable.
This is an administration which has run amok.
1
Sarah Huckabee Sanders does this job because her mission in life is to force her religious beliefs on as many people as possible, and an opportunity like the White House press secretary role, in this particular "administration," is the most effective opportunity for her to do that. It's probably not entirely her fault she's a bible-thumping nut, as that's apparently how she was raised, but she's an adult who should know better by now and clearly she took and performs the job in bad faith. She has no qualifications for the job, only a willingness to do whatever it takes to help an authoritarian regime that panders to evangelicals. Her obnoxious, obstreperous, embarrassing behavior is all in service of forcing evangelical policy on the United States, against its will. Only in this fraudulent presidency could someone like Sarah Huckabee Sanders have this job.
5
When I watch and listen to a person like Ms Sanders I wonder if she realizes she is not telling the truth most of the time while acting nasty and sarcastic. Does she realize her reputation is distroyed.?
1
@Thomas Renner
She's her father's daughter.
3
I think that when Sanders is questioned by the press, it would be a legitimate followup question to ask: "are you lying to us now?"
6
Whats the point of having a press briefing. You can't believe a single word that comes from that organization.
3
I don't understand how that woman can live with herself.
This current administration will go down in history as having racked up more (fact-checked ) lies than any other administration. We look forward to the end of this three ring circus tragedy.
3
All she has ever done is lie to protect Trump. That seems to be her only job. It is useless to ask questions of one who is paid to lie.
2
Having a Press Secretary who lies is like, well.... having an EPA Secretary who shills for fossil fuels, or an Education Secretary whose goal is to dismantle public education, or a Housing Secretary whose only claim to the job is
having lived in a house, or a Secretary of Energy who publicly stated he would like to dismantle the whole agency, or a Homeland Security Secretary who would have us believe that impoverished , exhausted families at the souther border are somehow a threat to us while school kids are murdered by 'All American' young men.......
Only the best.
Indeed
4
"Ms. Sanders, then the deputy press secretary, claimed on two occasions that she’d heard from “countless” current and former agents that the “rank-and-file” had lost confidence in him. When later questioned by Mr. Mueller’s office, Ms. Sanders admitted that this was untrue — or, rather, that it had been a “slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment.”
"Slip of the tongue" made "in the heat of the moment." In other words, she even lies about her own lying.
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Yes...that’s how insane this all is , she even lied about her lie....as we see her read her statement off a piece of paper.
Doughnuts to dollars , Trump told her to say what she said!
I miss Scaramucci.
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So the press should just start saying we don’t want to talk to Sanders... she lies too much.
A master stroke - put a press secretary out there that spouts nothing but hoo-ha and nobody will care if there are briefings or not (why bother?). November 2020 can't come soon enough.
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To members of the Trump administration, and Republican Senators in Congress :
THE TIME FOR CELEBRATING YOURSELF IS COMING TO AN END
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Ms Sanders has an ugliness of the soul that is unbearable to watch.
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Ugh, truly, what's the point? I continue to be amazed that she manages to get up and go to work every morning.
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Sanders isn’t s press Secretary she is the assistant minister of propaganda.
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Dear Sarah Huckabee Sanders,
The name of the other major political in this country is the Democratic Party. Please refer to it by its actual name. I'm sure you wouldn't like if people began referring to your party as the Republic Party.
Thank you for your time.
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Ive decided SHS is a stand up comedian, and should be treated as such.
When your job is essentially to lie to the media, you are likely to have a rough time. Ms. Sanders has proven herself sufficiently without moral values for the President, but the American people expect more. Her relative silence is a small blessing because she is not daily attacking and corroding our values like her boss.
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Ms. Sanders pulls down around $190,000 per year to do, it appears, mostly nothing at all. I am expecting a “roar” from the GOP to halt at once this utter waste of taxpayer funds.
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This piece is a perfect example of commenting about smoke in our eyes while our house of Democracy is critically afire from widespread Trumpian corruption.
It is long overdue for the entire firefighting U.S. Press Corp, before its water is cut off, to turn wild and crazy proactive on a daily basis. From Trump himself to William Barr to Cabinet members to Republican Senators to Supreme Court Justices, every day and in every way: Question, question, question!
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Let’s stop picking on people like Sarah Huckebee, our culture has already lost the value of speaking the truth, long before Donald Trump became president. We are a society of “keep your mouth shut” or you will lose your job , a new business deal, a promotion etc. Speaking the truth has become too costly for most Americans and lying has become the path to vast riches. Yes it’s sad but it’s our reality, anyone living in an affluent community knows exactly what I am talking about.
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@Robert
No, let's not stop "picking" on Sarah and people like her. They are just the latest crop of morally bankrupt suckers to sell themselves in support of the liar-in-chief.
"Lying has become the path to vast riches." Please. Our buddy Trump would have a lot more money in the bank if he had merely put his inheritance in the bank, and told the truth every day of his life.
I have known a few grifter/liar types in my day, and they are always pathetic (except perhaps in their own eyes.)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is now, more than ever, just that: pathetic. No wonder she doesn't show herself in public.
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@Robert That's the point here, she's only employed because she can lie through her teeth while butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth. She's merely a symptom of the cancer we are dealing with in Trumplandia.
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@Robert That's only the culture if people accept that that is the culture.
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"Meet the Press? Don't Bother" Your title says it all. The news from the White House isn't being credibly explained by Ms. Sanders. Instead it is coming from a flock of bird calls from a president preening for admirers. There are real leaders in that other branch of government unafraid to speak with vision and willing to act in concert. Let them Meet the Press.
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If she had a little bit of integrity left, she would have resigned. Instead she's trying to defend the lies of her boss and making a mockery of herself! On a side note how any self respecting woman can defend a womanizer like Trump, I have no idea.
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"The special counsel’s office detailed several instances in which, in her official capacity, Ms. Sanders flagrantly lied to the media and the American public."
There's your answer. She is too embarrassed to show her face.
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Appropriate reply: "I think, Ms. Sanders, that you're doing a great job of being a robot."
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She and Trump are, by default, doing their own version of censorship of the media by not allowing or severely cutting back on the press (and barring certain vocal ones!). Another example of this is when he stands in front of helicopters and shouts but we NEVER heard any questions--only his blathering non sequitor responses. That's censorship of the media as well.
I stopped watching Sanders long ago. She is press secretary in name only. In order to retain her position, she knows that lying and evading questions are her only options. To demonstrate the futility of these press conferences, the media should boycott them, leaving only the Fox sycophants in the room.
The press has been obsessed with only one goal for 2 years. Destroying Trump. I guess now that the Russian collusion connection has been proven to be untrue there just ain't too much to talk about. Unprecedented.
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@MikeB - not much to talk about other than the corruption of this administration and obstruction of justice. Oh, and the continuing Russian assault on our democracy. Mr Trump appears to be more than willing to have their help_ again_ in 2020. Perhaps that is the only way he can *win*.
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i think her lying and obfuscation has reached the end of its usefulness. on the same theme..... the two main talking head shows on sunday morning had rudy and kellyanne taking up the first 20 minutes...... why? the interviewers never ever ask the really hard follow up questions and these two practiced liars filibuster like mad to avoid as many questions as possible. there is no point to a huckabee press conference and there is no point to having ANY trump shill sit for an interview. we are done with these people. time to change the channel.
While we're at it, can we also stop bothering to check in with Kellyanne Conway? The novelty has worn off here. Sure, it was entertaining to see the lengths to which she'd go (The Bowling Green massacre? Alternative facts?) but the spin is no longer interesting and asking the Trump White House anything seems a waste of time.
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The press pool is undoubtedly thinking: What's to cover here?
It's outrageous.
I wish this country would stop giving this crazy administration coverage they don't merit.
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I'm still shocked at what Trump said about the NYTimes.
He wants the Times to beg forgiveness?
He may very well try to shutter the Times, but what would follow, will throw our country into chaos.
The republicans better get rid of him sooner, and not later.
Trump belongs in jail.
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This is a catch 22 conundrum -- what is the point of having press briefing of nothing but lies clothed a facade of respectability of "White House press briefing"? Her presence and her words of lies behind that podium defile the White House briefing room and our presidency.
I do not understand how these people can lie so openly and blatantly without shame. What do they teach their children?
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Ms Sanders, as another reader PJM wrote correctly: Ms Sanders keep the focus on the top, the leader, where the buck (should) stops, the person pulling the strings....
What I want to add is that custom aside, the world of media or communications has changed. Thus the Press Secretary is focused on multiple mediums that have bypassed her such as twitter. Newspapers and Network broadcasters are dinosaurs, what newspaper put's out a physical newspaper these days? Even this poster is writing this online and thus the quandary of the Press Secretary. Her job had radically changed because her boss prefers to communicate daily and directly to the people, several times a day and basically to bypass biased reporting of some out there. CNN Jim Acosta showboating antics for ratings at WH press conferences helped along the decision to end daily WH press events.
Maybe if the press stuck with the issues? She's not doing her job? You're not doing your job. You're providing entertainment. Not the news. Not the facts.
Trump kept up his end with the media outlets. The stars of the press get the majority of questions but they don't stick with the issues they attack. They should put up with it because you're the press? The Fifth Estate? The tax payer pays for it?
I wish I could be as impressed with you as you are impressed with yourselves but I'm not. Had you not coronated Hillary Clinton perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with Trump. Now he's all of our problem. Deal with it.
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What makes this even more salacious is Daddy's role as a great leader in the "christian" right wing movement.
Christianity has suffered many black eyes but having the "christian" movement allied with Trump is the best.
WWJD? He certainly would not be working for The Donald.
SS is another symptom of a culture that believes rather than one the seeks to understand.
Once you give your intellect over to belief, there is no turning back.
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I wish @jack at Twitter would dedicate a fact checker to Trump’s tweets so that any tweets found to be false or inaccurate would be immediately be deleted.
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In my opinion Ms Sanders refusal to hold press conferences is disgraceful, 'since she is not doing the job that she is being paid to do . However on the other hand it is of 'little loss since she had turned the event into a charade of evasive answers and and the telling of plainly untruths. Why give this administration an opportunity to spread their propaganda . It is far better that the media continue to seek out and publish the truth and let the general public come to their own conclusions. What we don't really need to hear is 30 minutes of whining from Ms Sanders about how this President has been maligned by the Media , by what she likes to call their Fake News and he considers to be The Enemy of The People. .
After reading the comments:
Say what you want about the Russian tampering in our elections, but with minimal investment and time they were successful in raising the Hate/Loathing level in this country to an all time high.
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"What is the job of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who holds the title of White House press secretary?"
Simple: Repeat the lies Donald and his staff told you, and embellish them further so that they become completely unbelievable. Refuse to answer legitimate questions from the press. Do all you can to destroy the legitimate education of the public about the crimes and self-serving behavior of this administration.
Anyone who actually takes Trump and his lackeys seriously has a significant problem with reality.. The press is just following Trump's lead as he and Sanders lead them and American citizens down the Primrose Path.
I thought she was leaving as of January. I wonder what happened - did Trump persuade her to stay, because she was doing his dirty work? It's probably hard to find press secretaries who will.
Sanders' statement that, "the Democrat party"... "stated time and time again that there was definitely Russian collusion between the president and his campaign.” Also is not factual. Her response to being confronted with lying is...lying. Don't remember hearing "there was definitely" collusion. Many Democrats showed forbearance during the Mueller investigation. The author is correct about the Administrations' shift, when caught lying, to being the persecuted. A piece of work. Get off the cross. We need the wood.
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