white house Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who finds himself defending President Donald Trump’s asinine actions on a daily basis, has finally reached his breaking point. Today, he finally kicked off at a reporter, and even better, it was a black woman. Facing the brunt of his outburst was April Ryan, the Washington DC bureau chief on behalf of American Urban Radio Networks. “You don’t seem so happy,” said Ryan, teasing Spicer. Turns out he doesn’t respond well to teasing.
She was asking a simple question
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Ryan simply asked Spicer if the Trump administration was looking to “revamp its image” amid the Russia investigations, the falsely-accused Obama wiretapping scandal, and all the rest.
Spicer replied instantly, “No, we don’t have that.” Then he got all on the defensive for Trump yet again, telling Ryan, “I get it,” before launching into an intense rant about the whole Russia thing. He said that ever since he arrived in office, he’s been telling the press time and again that “there is no connection” between Trump and Russia. He then joked that “If the President puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that’s a Russian connection.”
Spicer kindly pledged to Ryan, “I appreciate your agenda here, but the reality is...” and then Ryan tried to speak and Spicer interrupted her, “Hold on.” That was an early sign of the cracks starting to show as he was ready to pop.
He told her to “at some point, report the facts.” But for all we know, the facts are that Trump and Russia are in cahoots, and all signs point to it, no matter how much Spicer denies it and says there’s no “collusion” between them. At present, the Russia investigations are ongoing. Spicer should appreciate those facts. And not alternative facts.
Dear God, please not alternative facts.
Then Ryan started shaking her head and things got ugly
Spicer saw Ryan shaking her head, without saying a word, from the midst of the crowd of reporters and it started to rile him. “I’m sorry that disgusts you,” he said sarcastically, before Ryan did a quick 180 to spin the questioning to a different approach, and asked him about the meeting Trump will be having this week with Condoleezza Rice.
Avoiding the question about Rice, Spicer pointed out that it was “interesting” that Ryan chose to ask the Rice question directly after the Russia question, because she asked Spicer what the Trump administration’s plan was “to improve our image” (Spicer’s words), and then said that the meeting with Rice is “meeting somebody that hasn’t been a big supporter.” He then angrily accused Ryan of being “hell bent on trying to make sure whatever image” she wanted to portray of Trump’s White House in her report “stays.”
Spicer, now very agitated, then told Ryan, “I’m sorry, please stop shaking your head again.” Ryan quickly responded on Twitter with a single-word tweet: “Lawd!!!!”
‘Lawd!!!!’
Ryan appeared later on MSNBC to say that she’s been reporting from the White House for two decades, ever since Bill Clinton’s second term, and says she’s “never seen anything” quite like Spicer in all her days of political reporting.
She added that her question was “simple,” essentially asking Spicer how he intended to fix “the perception problem” about Trump’s White House.
She perfectly described Spicer’s resultant tangent as “it went off into this Russian dressing, no shaking my head or whatever.” Ryan says that Spicer is simply “trying to make this administration look better” than it actually is, saying that she was treated like “roadkill” at today’s briefing.
