memeorandum: Trumpism Corrupts: Spicer Edition (Jonathan V. Last/Weekly Standard)

1:30 PM ET, January 22, 2017

Top Items:

Crowd Scientists Say Women's March in Washington Had 3 Times as Many People as Trump's Inauguration — Composite image by Joe Ward based on video from Urdu Voice of America — The women's march in Washington was roughly three times the size of the audience at President Trump's inauguration, crowd counting experts said Saturday.

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, The Guardian, Business Insider, Shareblue, NBC News, New Urban Legends, TheBlaze, The Week, New York Magazine, USA Today and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:

Trump Attacks News Media Over Reporting on Crowd Sizes — WASHINGTON — President Trump and his staff spent their first full day in the White House waging a bitter war against the news media over depictions of the crowd at the inauguration on Friday. — In a pair of angry public appearances …

Jonathan V. Last / Weekly Standard:

Trumpism Corrupts: Spicer Edition — White House press secretary Sean Spicer speaks in the press briefing room on January 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C.. — The first official White House press conference is on Monday, but Sean Spicer called a Very Special Presser Saturday evening. Why?

Discussion: Politico

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:

Conway: WH Spox Wasn't Lying, He Was Just Offering ‘Alternative Facts’ — Senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said in an interview Sunday morning that White House press secretary Sean Spicer wasn't lying about crowd size at the President's inauguration—he was just giving “alternative facts.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript 1-22-17: Kellyanne Conway, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Chuck Schumer — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR ‘THIS WEEK’ on January 22, 2017 and it will be updated. — GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Spicer then left the briefing room without taking any questions.

Discussion: Politico

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Trump's real war isn't with the media. It's with facts. — Trump needs to delegitimize the media because he needs to delegitimize facts. — Speaking at the CIA this afternoon, President Donald Trump said, “I have a running war with the media.” — Like much that Trump says, this isn't quite true.

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones and Nielsen

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Trump won't release his tax returns because people don't care, top adviser says — A senior aide to President Trump said Sunday that he has no plans to release his tax returns, a marked shift from Trump's pledge during the campaign to make them public once an audit was completed.

Alexandra Jaffe / NBC News:

Kellyanne Conway: WH Spokesman Gave ‘Alternative Facts’ on Inauguration Crowd — Conway: Press Secretary Gave ‘Alternative Facts’ 3:39 — Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, said the White House press secretary gave “alternative facts” when he inaccurately described …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Political Wire, Business Insider and The Week

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds

Discussion: Raw Story, RedState, BuzzFeed, The Guardian, The Week, Washington Post, Mother Jones, twitchy.com and alicublog

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump attacks Time reporter for mistake about MLK bust

Discussion: Washington Post, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, IJR, Mashable, Hit & Run, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

Bloomberg:
Trump Spokesman Accuses Media of False Inaugural Reporting

Discussion: ABC News

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump Changes Course After Denouncing Protesters — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST): — President Donald Trump is doing a quick about-face about the protests that swept through Washington and around the world on Saturday.

Discussion: Politico and The Republic

Reuters:
UK PM May promises frank talk with Trump after women protest

Discussion: The Week

Bloomberg:
Trump Team in Talks with U.K. on Post-Brexit Trade Deal

Discussion: TheBlaze

Christopher Hope / Telegraph:
Watch | Trumps attend interfaith prayer service

Discussion: Axios and Politico

NBC News:

Ex-CIA Boss Brennan, Others Rip Trump Speech in Front of Memorial — President Trump Praises CIA, Attacks Media in Agency Visit 2:31 — Donald Trump traveled to CIA headquarters Saturday to offer reassurance to the workforce after he spent weeks criticizing American intelligence …

Discussion: The Hill and Hullabaloo

Ryan Browne / CNN:
Trump to CIA: ‘I am with you 1,000%’

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Townhall.com and The Atlantic, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Trump wages war against the media as demonstrators protest his presidency

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, IJR, NPR and Hit & Run

Burgess Everett / Politico:

McCain and Graham back Tillerson — After weeks of agonizing over Rex Tillerson's ties to Russia, John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Sunday that they will vote for President Donald Trump's secretary of state nominee, essentially clinching approval for Tillerson.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Axios

Burgess Everett / Politico:

McCain and Schumer: Don't end Russian sanctions without Congress — A bipartisan group of senators is seeking to hamstring President Donald Trump from lifting sanctions on Russia without approval from Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. John McCain said Sunday.

Discussion: ABC News

Nicki Rossoll / ABC News:
McCain Will Vote Yes on Trump's Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson

Discussion: Associated Press and Mediaite

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Scenes from a pussy riot — Who knew President Trump's lewd 2005 “Access Hollywood” video, particularly his ugly “grab 'em by the pussy” line, would start a movement? A lot of political observers thought it would sink his presidential candidacy — wrong — but few might have predicted …

Discussion: Power Line

Z. Byron Wolf / CNN:

Comparing Trump's inauguration crowd to the Women's March — This post has been updated to add context. — Washington (CNN)It's going to be impossible to gauge how many people exactly attended the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 as opposed to Barack Obama in 2009.

New York Times:
Pictures From Women's Marches Around the World

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, AOL, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Independent, The Week and Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles Times:
Women's marches live updates: Millions march in L.A. and around the world following Trump's inauguration

Discussion: Raw Story, Arizona Republic, CNN, Business Insider, The Guardian, The Atlantic, NPR, IJR, Sputnik International, The Week, Talking Points Memo and Mashable

Quinta Jurecic / Lawfare:

President Trump Speaks at CIA Headquarters — The day after his inauguration, President Donald Trump addressed CIA employees at the Agency's headquarters. Video of his remarks is available below courtesy of The Washington Post, along with a transcript courtesy of CSPAN.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, Balloon Juice, Washington Post and The Week

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:
At CIA headquarters, Trump boasts about himself, denies feud

Discussion: The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, Washington Post, The Week, The Mahablog, Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon

New York Daily News:

Half a million people show up for Women's March on Washington as others flock to sister marches across globe — Anastasia Shawback boarded a 5:30 a.m. bus Friday, riding 22 hours from Illinois to join the Women's March on Washington against newly-installed President Trump.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog