Trump Records Dumb Video for White House Reporters Instead of Facing Them Directly

Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked off her White House press briefing on Thursday with an announcement that a “special guest” would be on hand with a message for the assembled reporters. But rather than reading a new letter from future cabinet secretary Pickle, or inviting senior White House adviser Stephen Miller up to the lectern for another meltdown, the special guest was…Donald Trump. On a TV.

That’s right: a man whose office is just steps away from the White House briefing room opted for a pre-recorded statement rather than walking himself the 50-some feet down the hall to deliver his bland, self-congratulatory message in person.

Punctuating the decidedly 1984-esque charade (the Apple Macintosh version, not the Orwell one) was Huckabee Sanders, who concluded this farce by actually thanking the video screen—perhaps thinking that Trump, presumably sitting just several feet away in the Oval Office, might hear her.

Or maybe in Trump’s White House, talking to the TV like it’s a real person is just how things work.