While Jen Psaki dodges, lies, and gaslights in plain sight, WaPo's Erik Wemple is focused like a laser on ... Sean Spicer

Sarah D | 2:12 PM on September 21, 2021

Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple is only concerned the most pressing issues of the day. No, not Afghanistan. Not the border crisis. Not COVID19. Not an absent president and vice president.

No, the story that everyone needs to hear about right now is the story of … former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

Opinion: There are consequences to misleading the country from the White House briefing room. Sean Spicer is now experiencing them. https://t.co/lTmvCkVnGb

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 21, 2021

Don’t forget about Sean Spicer, you guys!

Wemple writes:

Earlier this month, news broke that the White House asked for the resignation of Spicer and other Trump appointees from military academy advisory boards. When asked about the matter, the current press secretary, Jen Psaki, said, “I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified or not political to serve on these boards, but the president’s qualification requirements are not your party registration. They are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration.”

Spicer’s reaction is familiar to anyone who watched him as press secretary attempt to defend the indefensible: a mix of anger and illogic. “Jen chose to stand and question my qualifications and services to this country. Once she did that, the gloves were off,” Spicer is quoted in the New York Times for a profile on Psaki. He also mixed in some pettiness: “I walked into the lion’s den every day — she walks into a bunch of kittens,” said Spicer, skipping over the role of the press secretary in setting the tone for the briefing room.

We actually don’t find anything incorrect about Spicer’s assessment of the press’ treatment of him versus their treatment of Jen Psaki. With a handful of exceptions like Peter Doocy, Jen Psaki is indeed walking into a bunch of kittens. The press sets the tone for the press secretary, not the other way around.

Wemple concludes:

The lesson laid down by Spicer, Sarah Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany over four lie-filled years remains: White House briefings can work just as well as entertainment-driven beatdowns as they do as forums where information is exchanged. The formula for making them “exciting” rather than informative is no state secret. Just ask poor Sean Spicer.

The way he talks about this, you’d think that Jen Psaki were a breath of fresh air after “four lie-filled years.” But as she has demonstrated every time she steps up to that podium, Jen Psaki is more than capable of lying to the media’s and Americans’ faces. Over and over again. And she’s already managed to pack four years’ worth of lies into just eight months.

(How refreshing.)

The current @PressSec refused a briefing on a Friday when the FDA shot down the admin Covid booster plan, the Admin admitted killing 7 kids in a drone strike & 10,000 migrants were corralled under a Texas bridge. Here's what Wash Post media guy @ErikWemple wrote about – Spicer. pic.twitter.com/1IlwfmVZcw

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 21, 2021