As Twitchy told you, some conservatives were a bit leery of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee referring to Jemele Hill’s recent anti-Trump tweet as “a fireable offense” — that’s up to ESPN to decide, and it looks they’ve decided to “address” Hill’s comments in-house and leave it at that.
One commenter made a good point: the White House was winning by not saying anything, but now the media will certainly spin the response as, “White House already antagonistic to reporters attempts to have journalist fired.”
Ironically, Hill’s response on Twitter to a story in The Hill about Kid Rock kicked off the tweets that led to the one calling President Trump “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists.” Now, The Hill is running a story under the headline, “White House: ESPN anchor that called Trump racist should be fired.”
#BREAKING: White House demands ESPN fire host who called Trump a "white supremacist" https://t.co/jz8OpGlzBK pic.twitter.com/Y0n9rXDnOz
— The Hill (@thehill) September 13, 2017
Which is it: “should be fired” or “demands” be fired? Answer: Neither one.
they said nothing even remotely of the sort https://t.co/oYoMh1SPuP
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) September 13, 2017
“It is certainly something that I think would be a fireable offense by ESPN.”- Sanders
Nowhere in that quote does she "demand" anything https://t.co/oYoMh1SPuP
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) September 13, 2017
eh…there was no demand https://t.co/GwljqC6X6k
— Omar Mohammed (@TheOmarMohammed) September 13, 2017
Uh, it wasn't a demand tho. https://t.co/Vd4mPCi3LP
— J.T. Gilgo (@JTGilgo) September 13, 2017
More #FakeNews. The White House did not demand it, you filthy liars. https://t.co/YIqjJcqFTr
— The Morning Spew (@TheMorningSpew) September 13, 2017
Leave it to The Hill to completely misrepresent what was already a stupid comment. https://t.co/W2kaIbwVhr
— RBe (@RBPundit) September 13, 2017
But you just know this is the story critics of the Trump administration will cite when they claim the president demanded ESPN fire Hill.
https://twitter.com/canadiancynic/status/908045804723752960
Check Twitchy’s previous post on this story if you’re really interested — there are plenty cited there. But if the narrative is going to be that Trump demanded ESPN fire Hill, then it looks like that’s how it’s going to play out online.
Hand… OVERPLAYED. https://t.co/lU7NUlL0xv
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) September 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/MaraLaGoFuckYou/status/908044198326259712
This is bonkers. Talk about an abuse of power.
Where are the republicans who are about "limited government"?
This is gross. https://t.co/5t8l6Op64t
— below average tweet (@BlakeEWhitney) September 13, 2017
Morphing into an authoritarian government. https://t.co/RxiSStg4ng
— Lara Witt (@Femmefeministe) September 13, 2017
Maybe someone should inform them we don't live in a country that is a dictatorship… https://t.co/ciKZv5OW0v
— Ben (@Benny3E) September 13, 2017
America criticizes and attacks countries for having fascist government, but this is literally what happens in those countries. https://t.co/i3F2DphPLR
— FERRARI SHEPPARD (@stopbeingfamous) September 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/ArmyStrang/status/908045588259799040
The white house demanding punishment for free speech is literally going against the 1st amendment. Like, there's no way to argue against it. https://t.co/dQIfDWgGT8
— wiggity wayne (@35mmPapi) September 13, 2017
Any paying attention the last few months will note it’s generally be progressives arguing in left-leaning newspapers that liberals have been a little too “absolutist” in their defense of the First Amendment … be thankful for the conservatives still willing to defend all speech, even “hate” speech.
https://twitter.com/BroderickGreer/status/908045845572046849
https://twitter.com/LuvRedWhiteBlue/status/908064411813736448
Um, no, they didn’t. Any chance of correcting this tweet? Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz didn’t seem to get it either, even after posting video of the exchange.
?The White House press secretary, from the podium, calls for a media company to fire a commentator over her criticism of the president. ? pic.twitter.com/CEJggX8WNn
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) September 13, 2017
Agree with the comments or not, there is a real danger when the White House is trying to get journalists fired for criticizing the president https://t.co/jBlx0frGCb
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) September 13, 2017
Plausible next steps:
1 Sanders claims she never called for Hill's firing, just fireable offense, scolds press
2 Trump endorses Fox Sports— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) September 13, 2017
“Next steps?” The first step would be admitting Next Step No. 1 was the first step. Maybe … WATCH THE VIDEO.
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Related:
Not-so-free speech? Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls ESPN anchor Jemele Hill’s tweets ‘a fireable offense’ https://t.co/iGcNFxXurF
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 13, 2017
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