1.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertisements

Lawrence O’Donnell said what the media won’t Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a liar who spews nonsense, lies, and word salad each day.

Video:

@Lawrence goes there and bluntly calls Sarah Huckabee Sanders a liar. pic.twitter.com/BAkrMq1Ury — Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 21, 2018

Advertisements

O’Donnell said:

The press secretary was asked if the president supports the utterly foolish and dangerous and impossible idea advanced by former house speaker Newt Gingrich that six to eight American teachers in every American school should be carrying guns at all times to fight off mass murderers. It is an idea that would create more armed teachers in America than armed police officers in America. I promise you Newt Gingrich has not done the math on this. It is the single most ridiculous idea that has been suggested in this arena and the white house press secretary’s answer was —

“I haven’t spoken with him about Speaker Gingrich’s plan so I’ll have to get back to you on that front.”

So the White House press secretary has no idea whether the president supports a crazy idea. But that is her standard answer for most questions. The White House press secretary standard answer for most questions is I have no idea what the president thinks about that. The White House press secretary offered jibberish and lies when asked about the president’s reaction to the indictment on Friday of 13 Russians for interfering in our election. She actually offered the lie that President Trump has been much tougher on Russia than President Obama.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders can lie daily because no one calls her out

The media has gotten better at challenging the White House during the daily briefing, but the problem is that the White House is still given a live television platform to lie whenever they want. Ignoring the daily briefing is not an acceptable answer because the American people need to hear what the administration is doing even if they are lying, so a better answer is that the media stops covering live the opening statement from the press secretary. The press can cut to the questions and answers. (This is a practice that MSNBC used during the Tuesday briefing).

The other option is to send reporters to the briefings who aren’t going to chase the day’s shiny object and stick to the vital questions, but Lawrence O’Donnell has it right.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a liar, and the question for the press is how to balance journalistic responsibility with a White House that won’t stop lying?

The answer to this question will determine how informed or misled the American public will be.

For more discussion about Rachel Maddow join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.