Sean Spicer gish gallops all over this one, as ThinkProgress defined it last September,
The power of the “Gish Gallop,” which could be rechristened the Trump Tirade, is that it is all but impossible to rebut all of those misrepresentations in real time. And of course, rebuttals are inherently less emotionally compelling than a story built around a well-connected series of falsehoods.
“Although it takes a trivial amount of effort on the galloper’s part to make each individual point before skipping on to the next,” explains Rational Wiki, “a refutation of the same gallop may likely take much longer and require significantly more effort.” And so it’s no surprise that “gish galloping is frequently used (and particularly devastating) in timed debates.”
And yet Alisyn Camerota does an excellent job of defending truth over the barrage of lies spit out by Sean, who thought diverting attention to blaming Obama was a good strategy.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN: Sean, I’m more interested in what Mr. Trump is going to do. We’re not electing President Obama again. You are representing Mr. Trump.”
Sean Spicer didn't seem to think it was a problem at all that Trump has actually postponed briefings on the Russian hack of our election process:
SPICER: The report is not final. He’s not been briefed by the heads of the intelligence community.
Earlier Spicer had said Trump HAD been briefed. This set Camerota back:
CAMEROTA: He has not been briefed about the heads of the intelligence community about whether or not they believe Russia is behind the hacking?
SPICER: No they’re coming in later this week to do that.
And then we're off to the races. Sean has created the confusion about who has been briefed and when, and cast doubt on whether the SEVENTEEN intelligence agencies that agree about the Russsian involvement, have come to a "final" conclusion.
CAMEROTA: Hold on, Sean...
SPICER: No! Not, hold on! The idea we’re asking people and making assumptions on a report that’s not final is unbelievable.
CAMEROTA: So, in other words, Lindsey Graham and Senator John McCain are also unbelievable and irresponsible? They’re planning hearings about it. They’ve been briefed.
SPICER: Listen to what you just said: They’re planning hearings. They are trying to get it right. Listen to what’s going on. Get the intelligence and then come to a conclusion.”
CAMEROTA: Wait a minute, Sean. They have stated they believe Russia is behind this, that’s why they’re holding the hearings.
SPICER: They believe something. Then they’re having a hearing to get more information and coming to a conclusion. That’s what we believe should happen. ...I know it’s frustrating for you that we’re doing it in a logical way ...We’re going to get all the information, get briefed properly and make a decision. We’re not going to put the cart before the horse.
Condescension and gish galloping, and not very well, Sean. It's amazing that hearings on Benghazi that came up empty and with no charges nevertheless defeated "Killary" but when seventeen intelligence agencies (who on a normal day hate each other) agree that Putin hacked the election, but for the Trumpers, everything is inconclusive until the media storm has passed and Donald tweets about nuclear weapons or letting China keep a captured drone. Or he might tweet this.
We see you Sean Spicer. You're a terrible liar, but you're a liar. And now, a traitor.
