As White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ first and most important task is to brief reporters and answer questions on various developments within the Trump administration. But as she explained to Fox News (who else?) on Sunday, the fact that she hasn’t actually held a press briefing in nearly a month is actually a sign that she’s doing a great job, and if anyone is to blame for her stonewalling, it’s the media itself.
Speaking with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, Huckabee Sanders was asked whether she was considering canceling her public briefings altogether since—in Wallace’s words—the press “grandstand[s]”.
“Certainly, I won’t disagree with the fact that they grandstand,” Sanders agreed. “I think it’s pretty widely known that it happens.”
She continued:
The president does more short Q+A sessions than any president has prior to him. We’ve looked at those numbers.
[...]
I always think if you can hear directly from the president and the press has a chance to ask the president of the United States questions directly, that’s infinitely better than talking to me. We try to do that a lot, and you’ve seen us do that a lot over the last three weeks, and that’s gonna take the place of a press briefing when you can talk to the president of the United States.
Under normal circumstances, Sanders might have barely brushed up against a reasonable point: It’s good to hear administration news right from the source! But in this case—with a president who is a mush-brained liar—it’s hardly reassuring that Sanders thinks letting Trump ramble about Elton John and the 2016 election is a good substitute for actually being asked direct questions about what the White House is doing.
But hey, at least he doesn’t grandstand, right?