#spin room

For the White House, impeachment is just another example of how it’s been “under siege” since day one. Early in the administration, in the golden age of the backbiting leakers, you were more likely to find dissent quietly simmering in the West Wing. But something shifted in year two, and whatever anyone thinks about the merits of the Ukraine story is almost beside the point. The point is the White House is a bunker and what Trump says goes. The White House and the Trump campaign have distributed what they’re calling “TEAM TRUMP TALKERS” to congressional Republicans and surrogates, or to the people who go on cable TV to spin a story in favor of the president, and it’s all par for the course: “Impeachment has been the goal of Democrats before President Trump took office”; “Since Democrats have no chance at beating President Trump in 2020, they plan to undermine Democracy at the expense of the American people”; “Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry is illegitimate and unconstitutional”; “President Trump made the unprecedented decision to release the transcript of the phone call with the Ukrainian President because he is the most transparent President in history”; “We already know that the first whistleblower is a registered Democrat”; “The whistleblower had no first-hand knowledge of the call between President Trump and the Ukrainian President.” And, my personal favorite bullet point: “This is a total witch hunt scam.”

A behind-the-scenes look at how the post-debate "spin patrols" will try to manipulate coverage of the debates