Amid mounting evidence — and that's an understatement — that Trump has simply made up the notion that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration in the 2016 campaign, Spicer delivered an angry and confrontational performance. He repeatedly accused the assembled press corps of "cherry picking" news stories and purporting to have knowledge it didn't about the wiretapping story.

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All of which is, sort of, okay. Spicer got into real trouble when he offered what he suggested was proof (it wasn't) of why Trump just might be right about the alleged wiretapping. Spicer cobbled together clips from conservative websites and columnists to make the case. In his coup de grace, he cited conservative commentator Andrew Napolitano's suggestion that British intelligence could have tapped Trump Tower at the behest of the Obama administration.

Cue international incident. The British national security agency called the claims "utterly ridiculous," and national security adviser H.R. McMaster had to do a bit of late-night diplomacy to paper over the problem.

What Spicer seems to not get — or what Trump won't allow him to get — is that when he is standing behind the podium in the White House briefing room, he is a spokesman for the entire United States, not just the president. And when facts get such short shrift, it has real-world effects — on our allies and our enemies.