If it seems to you that White House Press Secretary and noted Godwin's law enthusiast Sean Spicer has been unusually quiet of late, you're not wrong. Spicer, whose daily press briefings used to make headlines thanks to their unique combination of swaggering bravado and flagrant disregard for anything remotely resembling the truth, has gradually been sidelined within the administration, and he's reportedly interviewing candidates to replace him while angling for "a more strategic role" in the White House for himself. It's sort of like the office manager who can't even order the right tonor suggesting that a senior executive position would better suit his unique skill set.

This isn't just about Spicer and his cheerful incompetence, though. As The Atlantic notes, it sure seems like the White House is slowly trying to kill off the press briefings altogether.

[I]nstead of canceling them entirely, the White House has appeared to embrace a different strategy: simply downgrading them bit by bit, from “briefings” to “gaggles,” and from on-camera to off-camera. Guidance for the briefings have begun to include a note that audio from them cannot be used. Additionally, though Trump has held short press conferences when foreign leaders visit, he has not held a full press conference since February.

When asked by The Atlantic about this trend, here is what Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's master puppeteer chief strategist, had to say:

Neither Spicer nor deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to queries about the changes to the briefings. Asked why the briefings are now routinely held off-camera, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in a text message “Sean got fatter,” and did not respond to a follow-up.

Just so we're clear here, the press corps is politely suggesting that the President of the United States' craven refusal to answer hard questions might pose some problems for democracy. This is a reasonable concern! But Bannon's trolling dodge doesn't even pretend to engage seriously with the question, or discuss the issue on the merits, or speak to journalists like they're adults. It is yet another grim illustration of how quickly the right's raison d'être has eroded from having actual ideas to searching desperately for clever new ways to piss off liberals and then fashioning the ensuing quotes into poorly-photoshopped memes. It is a three-word, body image-themed version of "LOL SNOWFLAKES TRIGGERED MUCH?"

Maybe Bannon fat-shaming Sean Spicer here is just a joke, but if it is, it's a bad one. Politicians are accountable to the people who put them in office, and one of their most basic job responsibilities is having the courage to appear in public and promote or defend their agenda, such as the case may be. Given how loudly this administration whines that the mainstream media distorts their message, press briefings, in theory, provide the perfect solution, because they provide a forum in which the White House can make its appeals directly to the American public without having anyone or anything get in the way. The refusal to take advantage of this opportunity strongly suggests that they know that their agenda is indefensible, and that they have something—maybe more than one somethings—to hide. They know that you know this, too. They just don't care what you think about it.

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