Horowitz: “Facts are Stubborn Things”
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
“Facts are stubborn things,” exclaimed John Adams, “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
I respectfully suggest that Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus and most of all President Trump display these words-which ring as true today as they did more than 200 years ago when Adams uttered them--- prominently above their desks and consult them often. This way, the next time they decide that they can rebut uncomfortable facts with falsehoods wrapped in misplaced righteous belligerence, they just say ‘no’.
This past weekend’s disgraceful and failed attempt to argue that more people attended Trump’s inaugural than Obama’s in 2009 is a case study in how to destroy your credibility and do so over something that is of little significance.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIt began with the President on Saturday inappropriately and inaccurately complaining about the dishonest coverage of the size of the crowd at his Inaugural in front of the wall of fallen heroes at the CIA.
But then bad, moved to worse as Press Secretary Sean Spicer called an unusual late Saturday afternoon press briefing and instead of supplying any news had what can be fairly described as a full blown temper tantrum, accusing the media of intentionally understating the size of Friday’s crowd, while he literally made a false statement every 15 seconds or so.
Spicer’s falsehoods were easily fact-checked and rebutted by news organizations far and wide, including some outlets that are usually friendly to Trump, such as FOX News. For example, he falsely claimed that more people used the Washington, DC Metro this time than in 2013 and the numbers supplied by the Metro show that is demonstrably false, Further, he used 2013, not the more robust 2009 numbers, which is the apples to apples comparison, because he knew full well they were about double this time.. By any metric employed, Obama’s 2009 Inaugural was much better attended than Trump’s and Nielsen Ratings show that more people watched Obama’s on television. This is not a big deal nor was it the main emphasis of news coverage until the Trump Administration’s over-the-top and ill-advised reactions made it a big story.
Worse moved to truly disastrous Sunday morning, when even after the negative media coverage of Spicer on Saturday, Trump spokespeople Kelly Anne Conway and Reince Priebus doubled-down. Conway in her exchange with Chuck Todd on ‘Meet the Press”, in which she asserted that Spicer was simply offering ‘alternative facts’ inadvertently backed-up Carl Bernstein’s, the Pulitzer Prize-wining journalist of Watergate fame, recent unflattering description of her as a “Propaganda Minister.”
Todd asked Conway, “Why did the president send out his press secretary ― who is not just the spokesperson for Trump, he is also the spokesperson for all of America at times, he speaks for all of the country at times ― why put him out there for the very first time in front of that podium to utter a provable falsehood?”
“Sean Spicer gave alternative facts to that,” Conway said.
“Alternative facts are not facts, they’re falsehoods,” Todd replied
President Trump’s casual disregard for the truth during the campaign and the transition has earned him the distrust of most Americans. This past weekend only made matters worse. Let’s hope it serves as a wake-up call to both the President and a communications staff that is not serving him well. In times of crisis, we need to be able to count on the President telling us the truth and to be effective, he needs to be believed, not just by his core supporters, but by most of us. This can not occur without a major course correction.
Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, elected official and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at University of Rhode Island.
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