Sean Spicer, the living embodiment of the Jos. A. Bank target demo, has had a very tumultuous few days in his new gig as White House Press Secretary. Less than 48 hours after he stepped to the lectern and unleashed an angry, borderline-hysterical screed denouncing the media for reporting bemusing-yet-ultimately-irrelevant facts about turnout for Donald Trump’s inauguration, Spicer angled for a reboot of sorts, holding his first “official” press conference on Monday afternoon.

Things went off the rails predictably quickly when he had a very hard time answering the question of whether he could promise to always tell the truth.

QUESTION: Is it your intention to always tell the truth from that podium, and will you pledge never to knowingly something that is not factual?

SPICER: It is. It's an honor to do this, and yes. I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you.

Holy hell. Sometimes we can disagree with the facts. At least Spicer’s suit was better this time, because his various attempts to string together a coherent thought were not.

"The problem with being willing to tell lies on behalf of a serial liar is that yours will always be exposed before his."

To be clear, Spicer is a blustering goon who knew exactly who he was hitching his cinnamon gum-laden wagon to when he accepted this job. Still, as he sputtered his way through evasive and often nonsensical answers, it was hard not to empathize a bit with the look of panic spreading across his face. Trump has already demonstrated that he is perfectly comfortable using Spicer as a canary in the coal mine, trotting him out to say outlandish and easily disprovable things with as straight a face as he can manage. If the lie goes undetected, Trump wins, but if it’s called out, he can throw Spicer under the bus, characterizing him as an irresponsible hothead who went rogue on a hot mic. The problem with being willing to tell lies on behalf of a serial liar is that yours will always be exposed before his.

Incredibly, some longtime members of the White House press corps who took in today’s debacle decided that, all things considered, Spicer’s willingness to double and triple down on his lies in a less shouty voice than last time counted as a wild success.

Reporting on the Trump administration must be a scary paradigm shift for veteran political journalists, for whom cultivating a cooperative relationship with the White House has long been an integral part of their jobs. Today, on the fly, they’re learning to operate in a world in which they rely on a presidential administration that has no interest in working together and will angrily deny the very existence of facts that they don’t deem politically expedient. Desperate olive branches like the ones offered in these tweets are the death rattle of a brand of journalism that Spicer’s post-truth era is already snuffing out. They are dangerous, though, because they perpetuate the myth that Spicer is a conventional White House press secretary, instead of a propagandist who will say anything his boss demands.

The main takeaway from Spicer’s three-day media circus is that journalists will have to strategically shift their reporting methodology if they expect to hold President Trump’s White House accountable. The ability to question the president’s representatives will remain important, sure, but it seems that the most valuable information to come out of press conferences for the next four years will be what Spicer lies about, rather than the actual lies he imparts.

Keith Olbermann on Donald Trump's Dangerous Plan to Destroy the Press Corps: