It’s not easy being a White House press secretary during a Republican administration, particularly when the press is only now fully awakening from the eight-year nap it took during Barack Obama’s “scandal-free” administration.
White House correspondents are back in activist mode — witness CNN’s Jim Acosta’s attempt to present the poem “The New Colossus” as immigration law, for example — and you’ve got some idea what the press room is like these days.
As Twitchy reported earlier Saturday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted about how she was told by the owner of a restaurant to leave because she works for President Trump:
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 23, 2018
Playboy’s White House correspondent, Brian Karem — who got a really big kick out of Sally Fields’ mean girl tweet about Samantha Bee calling Ivanka Trump a c**t on TV (“HA! Okay…best tweet of the day young lady.”) — says he doesn’t see Sanders treating reporters with respect (sad trombone).
With respect I have not personally seen this on display in the WH briefing room. https://t.co/yDLVWA2nig
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) June 23, 2018
For those keeping track — and we know the reporters are keeping track — Karem is the correspondent who recently invoked Sanders’ own children during a press briefing in a bit of partisan grandstanding that would make Acosta blush:
Reporter Brian Karem repeatedly asks Sarah Sanders about the Trump policy of separating undocumented children from their parents: "Come on, Sarah, you're a parent. Don't you have any empathy?"
She says he's trying to get more TV time. pic.twitter.com/NGVPnh1ISv
— David Mack (@davidmackau) June 14, 2018
How is “Don’t you have any empathy?” a legitimate question for the press secretary — and then Karem complains about respect in the press room.
your whining display was disgrace to reporters everywhere. with respect. https://t.co/xvWWeJgmN1
— jack doney (@jdmd47) June 23, 2018
For the record, Karem’s also the White House correspondent who asked Sanders if she’d ever been sexually harassed as part of his line of questioning:
WATCH: CNN political contributor asks @PressSec "have you ever been sexually harassed?" https://t.co/foDW2VJVCT pic.twitter.com/iW0z1VZPcB
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) December 11, 2017
Honestly … we do think Sanders tries to remain professional in the face of a White House press corps that actually accuses her of faking a tweet about baking a pecan pie.
Show it to us on a table. https://t.co/ifeSBlSZW7
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) November 24, 2017
We’ll confess, we’d kind of like the war between the Trump administration and the press to cool down a bit on both sides, but the press corps could go a long way toward earning respect if they could be a little less blatantly hostile and act like professionals, not inquisitors.
Related:
Journo’s heartbreaking anecdote inspires more entries into the Big Book of Really Amazingly Woke Kids https://t.co/CjMuUPJuEM
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 25, 2017
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