Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway Introduce ‘Alternative Facts’ To Defend Their Positions
Kellyanne Conway — serving as a counselor to President Donald Trump — created a new piece of political jargon on Sunday morning: alternative facts.
In a Meet The Press interview Sunday morning, Kellyanne Conway attempted to answer moderator Chuck Todd’s question about why Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed Donald Trump drew “the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period.” Kellyanne Conway responded with a spin attempt of Sean Spicer’s answer that sent Chuck Todd — and the internet — into a frenzy.
“You’re saying it’s a falsehood, and they’re giving — Sean Spicer our press secretary — gave alternative facts to that.”
Chuck Todd was quick to refute Kellyanne Conway. As he interrupted Conway, the Meet The Press moderator explained to the audience how he viewed the “alternative facts” statement she made.
“Wait a minute, alternative facts? Alternative facts? Four of the five facts he uttered — the one thing he got right was Zeke Miller — four of the five facts he uttered were just not true. Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”
"Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods," Chuck Todd tells Pres. Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway this morning. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/Ao005dQ13r
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 22, 2017
Kellyanne Conway attempted to deflect the comments back to former President Barack Obama to avoid answering the question directly. In rattling off several statistics, Kellyanne Conway quickly pointed out that Donald Trump has been in the Oval Office for less time than his predecessor and would make his presidency about changing these statistics.
Chuck Todd continued to press Kellyanne Conway as to why Donald Trump pushed Sean Spicer to hold a press conference Saturday about the size of the inauguration crowd. Calling the press conference about the inauguration crowd size “the smallest, pettiest thing,” Chuck Todd said he was “befuddled” by how Donald Trump and Kellyanne Conway could defend the Saturday press conference. Kellyanne Conway answered with a stinging attack against the media covering Donald Trump and his freshly-picked administration.
“I actually don’t think that — maybe this is me as a pollster, Chuck, and you know data well — I don’t think you can prove those numbers one way or the other. There’s no way to really quantify crowds, we all know that. You can laugh at me all you want… It’s actually symbolic of the way we are treated by the press, the way that you just laughed at me, is actually symbolic of the way, very representative of the way we are treated by the press.”
The incident Chuck Todd questioned happened Saturday when Press Secretary Sean Spicer issued a public statement condemning the media’s treatment over the inauguration crowd size for President Donald Trump, Teen Vogue reported. The article pointed out the disputed facts that Sean Spicer attempted to validate his point, an argument Donald Trump made via Twitter only hours prior to the press conference.
Since Saturday, President Donald Trump has deleted the tweets that caused the stir. Instead, Trump tweeted out new information about his inauguration ratings that correctly stated the audience size compared to ratings for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.
After Kellyanne Conway uttered the “alternative facts” statement on Meet The Press, the internet was quick to attack her comment. Twitter showed a hashtag for alternative facts was trending world-wide due to the frenzied comments issued about the statement.
The perfect meme for the "alternative facts" era: #seanspicersays https://t.co/5KyHO5h7AQ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 22, 2017
Kellyanne Conway now refers to their lies as "alternative facts." We get it. War is peace, freedom is slavery, Trump is presidential.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 22, 2017
The Donald Trump team welcomes #AlternativeFacts in its feud with the media https://t.co/R2N3s91eKI pic.twitter.com/KMHmd1pC6l
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 22, 2017
Hillary is president right now. I choose to believe this. #alternativefacts
— Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (@FullFrontalSamB) January 22, 2017
The way Kellyanne Conway chokes on and then vomits the phrase "alternative facts" is our new national anthem.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 22, 2017
Facebook also featured several comments about alternative facts on Sunday afternoon. Veteran news anchor Dan Rather wrote a blistering condemnation over the statement, calling alternative facts a blatant lie.
“When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase ‘alternative facts’… These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.”
Do you believe Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump when they use alternative facts to defend their positions? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
[Featured Image by Pool/Getty Images]
