{"id":135265,"date":"2017-11-02T14:20:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T20:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135265"},"modified":"2017-11-04T14:51:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T20:51:55","slug":"press-secretaries-gaslighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/02\/press-secretaries-gaslighters.html","title":{"rendered":"When Press Secretaries are Gaslighters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn’t even trying any more. Or, perhaps, she’s just upping her game.<\/p>\n

I mean, it’s one thing when Trump says, “X” and Sanders says, “Well, what he really meant was not X, but Y.”<\/p>\n

Apparently that’s too many words, as she’s now going directly to “No, he said Y.” Even though, yeah, there’s the video footage of him saying “X.”<\/p>\n

There’s Trump, on tape, saying: _”We need quick justice and we need strong justice \u2014 much quicker and much stronger than we have right now \u2014 because what we have right now is a joke, and it’s a laughingstock.”<\/p>\n

And there’s Sanders turning around and essentially asserting he said something different (emphasis mine).<\/p>\n

A few hours after Trump’s Cabinet meeting, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “Why did the president call the U.S. justice system a joke and a laughingstock?”<\/p>\n

“That’s not what he said,” Sanders replied. “He said that process has people calling us a joke and a laughingstock.<\/b>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, maybe that’s what he meant<\/i> to say, or maybe that’s what was scripted<\/i> for him to say. But it’s not what he actually said. He didn’t talk about “people” calling “us” a joke and laughingstock — he said, speaking for himself, that “what we have” is a joke and a laughingstock.<\/p>\n

But Sanders isn’t arguing that Trump misspoke, or was unclear, or was misinterpreted. She’s simply asserting he said something different from what he said.<\/p>\n

Gaslighting<\/a> is a psychological term for where someone attempts to control someone else by asserting reality is different from their memory of it. It’s frequently used by abusive spouses and authoritarian regimes. If you can get someone doubting their memory of events, it means they can be convinced that something was their fault, that abuse never happened, or didn’t happen in just that way, or that it was somehow justified, or that future things they perceive are, perhaps, their own misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

It’s rare that you see it in political contexts quite so blatantly, or so proximate to when the event happened and was caught on video, as this.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nHours after Trump calls US justice system ‘a laughingstock,’ White House denies he ever did<\/a><\/span>
\nA reporter quoted the president’s words verbatim to press secretary Sarah Sanders, who insisted, “That’s not what he said.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn’t even trying any more. Or, perhaps, she’s just upping her game. I mean, it’s one thing when Trump says, “X” and Sanders says, “Well, what he really meant was not X, but Y.” Apparently that’s too many words, as she’s now going directly to “No, he said Y.” Even though, yeah, … Continue reading “When Press Secretaries are Gaslighters”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,715,12,358,1071],"tags":[1305,1306,1077],"class_list":["post-135265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-crime-punishment","category-fourth-estate","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-doublethink","tag-gaslighting","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sarah-huckabee-sanders.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133758,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/29\/pity-the-poor-weak-bullied-warred-upon-criticized-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":0},"title":"Pity the poor, weak, bullied, warred-upon, criticized President","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 29-Jun-17 11:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, it's almost a classic trope: the bully who, when struck back at, claims that he is the real victim.Ladies & Gentlemen: our poor, persecuted President, Donald Trump. As defended (as \"just defending himself\") by his own hapless press flacks. 7 things Sarah Huckabee Sanders got totally wrong in her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132040,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/14\/how-liberals-let-trump-get-elected.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":1},"title":"How liberals let Trump get elected","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Nov-16 11:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a ton of ways that Trump got into the White House, but a lot of them boil down to (lack of) enthusiasm over Clinton. But is that really a good excuse for letting Trump in? Is saying, \"Well, Clinton just didn't wow me\" or \"Clinton should never have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133617,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/05\/how-often-are-administration-officials-going-to-have-to-walk-back-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":2},"title":"How often are Administration Officials going to have to walk back Donald Trump?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Jun-17 5:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, really -- it's going beyond the point of \"clarification\" and into the realm of \"he keeps chewing through the straps and getting to his Twitter account and we can't stop him.\"Nobody can truly look at Trump's tweet over the weekend [1] quoting London Mayor Sadiq Khan out of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129883,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/21\/the-non-party-folk-in-the-two-party-system.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":3},"title":"The non-party folk in the two-party system","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 21-Feb-16 7:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"Exit polls have their own problems, but if this one's results are accurate, they are pretty interesting. This is (for reasons rational and irrational) the year of the party outsider, the populist, the rage against the political machine.If we end up with a Trump vs Clinton general election, it will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/NevadaExitPoll.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/NevadaExitPoll.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/NevadaExitPoll.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":148682,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2020\/03\/05\/how-can-you-possibly-support-candidate-b.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":4},"title":"“How can you possibly support Candidate B?”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 5-Mar-20 11:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because the alternative is President T.","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2020"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2020","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2020"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/biden-and-sanders.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/biden-and-sanders.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/biden-and-sanders.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130617,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/07\/and-theyll-know-we-are-trump-christians-by-our-love.html","url_meta":{"origin":135265,"position":5},"title":""And they'll know we are Trump Christians by our love"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 7-May-16 2:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Lovely story here of a tow truck owner and fervent Donald Trump supporter in South Carolina who refused to tow the vehicle of a disabled woman after an auto accident -- a woman who happened to have a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on her car.While he later claimed it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135282,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135265\/revisions\/135282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}