Festivus in the East Room
by Tom Sullivan
By now, pretty much everyone has heard about President Trump's Thursday press conference. Various sites assembled lists of the craziest quotes.
But you had to be in the room to get the full effect. The Daily Beast reports:
And as the official White House press conference disintegrated further into unhinged criticism and belligerent sniping, reporters seated in the East Room could hardly contain themselves. There was an awkward mix of laughing with Trump, and chuckling at him as the president kept venting and sneering. The reporters present couldn’t stop quietly gossipping about Trump. “What is going on?” one journalist whispered to another. “This is insane” and “What the hell?” were other popular refrains in the room.Someone on Twitter likened it to the "Seinfeld" Festivus episode and wondered when we would see the feats of strength.
It was, again, time for Trump’s very public airing of the grievances and insecurities—all of them too familiar.
Robert Harward confirmed Thursday night he did not accept President Trump's offer to become the next national security adviser. Harward, a retired vice admiral who once served as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command and is now a senior executive at Lockheed Martin, told The Associated Press it was "purely a personal issue. I'm in a unique position finally after being in the military for 40 years to enjoy some personal time."Another Trump first: a senior administration official leaving to spend more time with his family before ever becoming a senior administration official.
Trump-22: Anyone who wouldn’t want to work in this White House is someone who it’d be good if they worked in this White House https://t.co/IdRDEhMvu8
— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) February 17, 2017
CNN reported another reason Harward turned down the job:
A friend of Harward's said he was reluctant to take the job because the White House seems so chaotic. Harward called the offer a "s*** sandwich," the friend said.
.@jaketapper just scanned to see if there is an emoji for that and thankfully there isn't.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 17, 2017
The Week observed that late night shows were forced to scrap their monologues and start over.
Tonight at 11/10c, Hurricane Trump destroys the perfectly fine show we had planned for you tonight. pic.twitter.com/3GEjzhhIPK
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 17, 2017
Stephen Colbert had to go on soon after Trump. He provided some lowlights.
But clearly, this won the Internet yesterday even before Trump celebrated Festivus in the East Room:
TIME’s new cover: Inside Donald Trump's White House chaos https://t.co/hctIFEcOSG pic.twitter.com/1hSQNrY6JQ
— TIME (@TIME) February 16, 2017