It's Hard to Know Which of These Insane White House Defenses of Donald Trump Is the Worst

By Rafi Schwartz | June 29, 2017 | 8:30pm

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To date, press briefings in the Trump White House have been confusing, volatile, and filled with lies. Nevertheless, rarely has a press briefing during this—or any—administration, been as painfully stupid as what took place on Thursday, when deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (hey, where’s Sean?) attempted to justify the president’s early morning attack on Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski.

Let’s recap.

“He fights fire with fire”

Asked by Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts whether Trump’s tweet alleging Brzezinski had been “bleeding badly” from a face lift during an encounter at Mar-a-Lago had crossed a line, Huckabee Sanders responded that the President was simply responding to ongoing media criticism. (Morning Joe had criticized him earlier in the day.)

“He fights fire with fire,” Huckabee Sanders explained.

Then things started to get weird.

“He’s never encouraged violence”

When asked whether Trump’s harassing tweets contributed to the divisive national dialogue he himself had decried in the wake of the shooting attack on Republican congressmen earlier this month, Huckabee Sanders said:

“The president in no way, form, or fashion, has ever promoted or encouraged violence of anything.”

Hmmm, let’s go to the tape:

But wait, there’s more!

“He’s not God”

Sanders, growing visibly more and more annoyed by the insistence that the President of the United States mocking a woman for allegedly having undergone botched plastic surgery was, in fact, newsworthy, was finally asked whether she would tell her own children that Trump was a role model.

Here’s her answer in full:

“I’ve been asked before—when it comes to role models, as a person of faith I think we all have one perfect role model. And when I’m asked that question I point to God, I point to my faith, and that’s where I would tell my kids to look. None of us are perfect, and certainly there’s only one that is. And that’s where I would point that direction.”

It’s totally cool for the president to mock a woman’s looks because, hey, it’s not like he’s God or anything, right folks?

If “stupid” were a combustible resource, this press briefing alone could have solved the world’s energy problems for decades to come.