Playboy's White House reporter Brian Karem is arguably one of the best and hardest-hitting reporters out there when it comes to this White House. He simply will not accept Sarah Huckabee Sanders' ridiculous lies, nor is he cowed by the idea of a four-star general lying to him.
On Reliable Sources this morning, he offered a disturbing assessment of the White House press shop, which exists only to churn out more lies and propaganda to prop up the unqualified and ridiculous man in the White House.
Speaking specifically of Sarah Huckabee Sanders' vapors at the notion of daring to question General Kelly's obvious lies, Karem had some advice for Trump.
"Put on your big boy pants for heaven's sake and, you know, realize what you signed up for," he replied. "She liked to use that to the military, how about he realizes what he signed up for?"
"What the Kelly exchange proved to me the day before when General Kelly was there, is there is no truth to be found anywhere in that press room," Karem continued. "It's all theater. It's all there to put not only their best foot forward but to deny reality."
Brian Stelter was taken aback, asking if maybe Karem was overstating things. (He wasn't; I watch these briefings and know he's right.)
"Most of it is all theater. They have not -- in the nine months that they have been there -- have not once admitted one mistake," he told Stelter.
"While they're anxious to go after us as being purveyors of fake media, they have not once even admitted they made a mistake. We have to retract our mistakes. They haven't. They won't even admit that they make them, so they cover them up."
That's a pretty strong allegation right there, and it's one hundred percent true to anyone who has to watch these travesties every day. There is NEVER any truth coming out of there, just spin, all day long.
And it takes a toll, as Karem further explained.
"When Sarah comes forward and says what she said on top of what Kelly said the day before, then you continue to look and become numb to it. You look at it and go there's nothing worthy of reporting. There's several reporters that have been in that room that say this is really getting beyond the pale."
He concluded, "In this White House, there is no recognition of the fact that facts matter. It's their facts and the rest of us be damned."
If anything Karem was not intense enough while saying this. I cannot stress how difficult it is for those of us who merely observe these briefings and unfiltered "press sprays" with Trump to watch them spew nothing but lies, day after day after day. Being a reporter must just be toxic.
