During the same unhinged Friday morning tweetstorm in which President Donald Trump basically threatened to blackmail former FBI Director James Comey, the president stressed that his beleaguered White House communications team can’t help being inaccurate some of the time.

As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

...Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy??? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Canceling briefings would be an outrageous affront to the press’ role in American democracy, and it’s shameful that Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday wouldn’t walk back Trump’s suggestion. But in Spicer’s defense, Trump is the one responsible for the White House’s communications crisis this week, as he’s been contradicting his staff’s on-the-record statements.

Josh Earnest, a White House press secretary under President Barack Obama, noted on MSNBC on Friday that it isn’t Spicer’s fault that Trump doesn’t give him complete and accurate information to relay. Earnest also pointed out that it’s hard for a White House to keep its story straight when the president won’t tell the truth.

Josh Earnest: Trump's press team struggles to keep its story straight because Trump doesn't tell the truth. https://t.co/hHG3h6Saly — MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 12, 2017

Conservative Fox News political analyst Brit Hume made a similar point.

No press secretary can compensate for a president who gives one reason in writing on Tues, and entirely different one on Thurs. #Comeyouster — Brit Hume (@brithume) May 12, 2017

Besides, how can Trump expect his team to do their jobs if he doesn’t even talk with them before briefings?