Dem
51
GOP
49
The last time we made reference to what is, perhaps, the most memorable scene from Animal House, quite a few folks wrote in to remind us that it was actually the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor. Just to be clear: We are, and were, aware of that.
Sean Spicer, on the other hand? Maybe not. He is not exactly the most admirable fellow in the world; after opposing Donald Trump's candidacy in 2016, he fell right into line. When it comes to the courage of his convictions, all Spicer is missing is the courage and the convictions. After Trump was elected, Spicer spent time as White House Press Secretary, doing his best impression of Baghdad Bob. After he was canned, he undertook a not-very-successful image rehab tour, appearing on Dancing with the Stars and other programs, with an eye towards showing the world that he's a "regular guy" who can "laugh at himself." After that, Spicer landed on Newsmax, where he parrots far-right talking points, and generally helps poison American political discourse. Well, as much as one can do so with a viewership in the hundreds (the dozens?).
Spicer has often given off the impression of someone who thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, but actually isn't. And he provided an object lesson in the latter portion of that this week, when he hopped onto Twitter to commemorate this week's notable historical anniversary:
D-Day took place on June 6, 1944. This week, as approximately 100% of readers will know, was the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
As we are educators, we are pretty used to figuring out exactly how someone managed to garble a fact or an idea. But honestly, we don't know how someone could screw this up so badly. On one hand, the date and the "infamy" reference are correct for Pearl Harbor. On the other hand, the D-Day references and the "story of sacrifice" are correct for D-Day. The folks at Pearl Harbor certainly displayed heroism, but it's not broadly a "story of sacrifice" when one is defending one's self against a surprise attack. And let's not forget that Spicer isn't a college student who's learning U.S. history for, perhaps, the first time. He's a college graduate and a raval officer.
Spicer was roundly derided, on both TV and social media, for his blunder. Though for us, the worse thing here is that the tweet makes clear that when Spicer speaks of patriotism, sacrifice, etc., it's just empty lip service with no real feeling behind it. In case there was any doubt on that point, the Newsmax host, apparently completely missing the point that Pearl Harbor served to bring Americans together, has used Twitter since then to take potshots at various "enemies." That includes some antisemitic-adjacent conspiracy theorizing about George Soros, and attacks on Joe Biden for regularly visiting his home in Delaware but not going to the Mexican border. The anti-Biden tweets are objectionable for two reasons. First, a presidential photo-op at the border is an empty gesture that doesn't actually solve any problems. Second, Spicer is conveniently overlooking the fact that the president that he worked for spent so much time on the golf course that his Secret Service code name should have been Double Bogey.
So, some schadenfreude at Spicer's expense was, is, and will continue to be well deserved. (Z)