Trump Ends Daily White House Press Briefings. So Much for "Transparency"
On This Day In 2019
From Day One of Trump’s presidency, his press office parroted his disdain for the “lamestream media.” So a succession of official Press Secretaries battled with reporters, pushing back against rational questioning, often just to show how loyal they were to the boss. But, they kept getting fired anyway, often because their lies proved too untenable.
Finally, OTDI 2019, Trump gave up trying. His then-mouthpiece, Stephanie Grisham, made it clear that the president was ending a decades-long tradition of having the press secretary provide --you know -- daily briefings to the press.
By that point, there had been none in months. This is the world’s most accountable government?
(Trump, by the way, had complained that Obama didn’t give enough press conferences. And it’s Harris whom Trump is now claiming to be a "threat to democracy?")
More than a year later and at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, yet another press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, finally took the briefing room podium. But she did so only to defend Trump’s inane comments on the virus.
President Biden’s team proudly – and instantly – resumed the tradition of accountability to the people.
Btw, Stephanie Grisham went on to write a tell-all book on the Trump White House. In it, she claimed, among other tidbits:
Trump told Putin: "OK, I'm going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it's for the cameras, and after they leave, we'll talk. You understand."
Setting the record straight: Trump also called Grisham from Air Force One to tell her that his penis was not small or toadstool-shaped, as reported by Stormy Daniels. And, Trump once asked Grisham’s then-boyfriend, a fellow Trump aide, if she was good in bed.
She describes Trump’s anger toward her and others as “terrifying”: “When I began to see how his temper wasn’t just for shock value or the cameras,” she writes, “I began to regret my decision to go to the West Wing.”
Melania had completely checked-out, caring so little about her philandering husband that she was asleep on Election Night.
Dive Deeper
Politico has the details on the lack of briefings
The first briefing in over a year was written up by Forbes
Here's CNN’s photo and video report
More on the dust