Sean Spicer’s “Alternative Facts”

As most of you probably already know, the Trump administration has been under some serious heat. Ever since Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave his first public speech on January 21st, there has been some backlash due to his alleged falsehoods.

Spicer stated that “…this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.” He miscalculated the amount of people that were able to fit in the area designated for the inauguration and claimed that they “…know that 420,000 people used h DC Metro public transit… which compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama’s last inauguration.” The amount of space designated for the event was clearly not even close to filled up.

In Trump’s and Spicer’s defense, however, it is quite plausible that from where he and President Trump were standing, with their low vantage point, the area seemed completely full. Since then, Spicer has admitted that some of the information he shared was incorrect, but believed that it was true at the time of the conference, according to The New York Times.

The day of the inauguration, the Twitter account for the DC Metro tweeted information that contradicts what Spicer had stated. They wrote, “As of 11AM, 193k trips taken so far today. (11AM 1/20/13+= 317k, 11AM 1/20/09=513k, 11AM 1/20/05= 199k)” This data reveals that Spicer’s declaration that this was the most viewed inauguration ever, was false.

Spicer’s claim that the inauguration was the most seen even “around the globe,” it has been reported that online viewership was up from the 2009 inauguration. However, there is no available measurement of this that would verify or refute this claim.

Multiple crowd size specialists have researched the differences of Obama and Trump’s inauguration crowd size. Steve Doig and Keith Still, crowd size specialists, both say that they estimated that Trump’s crowd size was about one third of what Obama’s was, and they were confident in those numbers. However, again, Doig also says that Trump’s claim that he could “…see people all the way back to the Washington Monument” could be entirely possible due to his visibility at the podium.

Lastly, Spicer claimed that new, white floor coverings over the grass highlighted the space between people in the crowd, which made less people seem present. He stated that these hadn’t been used at previous inaugurations and that’s why the crowd size seemed smaller than it was. However, this point was proved wrong as CNN reporter Ashley Killough tweeted a picture proving that floor coverings had been used at Obama’s second inauguration as well.

Sean Spicer’s fist press conference was filled with misinformation and falsehoods, whether he knew it or not. While we know now that his information was flawed, there has been information surfacing that helps the public better understand the truth. Spicer may also have been truly confused about the truth. In the future, however, he should be dedicated to providing those listening with the truth.