To use the words of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, this might be an “atrocity,” no? Complaining about press coverage of the constantly shifting White House explanations about the firing of FBI director James Comey, Donald Trump suggested on Twitter that perhaps it’s better not to hold press briefings at all. Instead, Trump proposed handing out written responses “for the sake of accuracy”:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863000553265270786

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863002719400976384

Or, perhaps, one could expect the White House to get their story straight the first time. We have seen official explanations of Comey’s firing go through several iterations, which have taken us from a DoJ request that Trump reluctantly granted to a plan Trump had all along. Even that latter explanation keeps shifting around as to motive and context, with each day bringing a new twist from a White House comms team that clearly can’t keep up with the boss’ whims.

Glenn Kessler tries to recap the ever-changing story this morning:

[Tuesday:] The original explanation from Trump and his White House was that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions initiated Comey’s firing. In a letter to Sessions, Rosenstein criticized Comey’s handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server use as secretary of state. He did not explicitly call for his dismissal.

[Wednesday:] The next day, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders revealed Trump actually asked for the recommendation of Rosenstein and Sessions. Trump had been losing confidence in Comey for months and had been considering firing him since Election Day, she said: “But he did have a conversation with the deputy attorney general on Monday where they had come to him to express their concerns. The president asked that they put those concerns and their recommendation in writing, which is the letter that you guys have received.” …

[Thursday #1:] The president then contradicted his staff’s earlier comments. In a preview video clip of his interview with NBC News, Trump said he planned to fire Comey all along, regardless of Department of Justice recommendations …

[Thursday #2]: Later on Thursday, NBC aired its full interview with Trump. In it, Trump offered yet another reason for firing Comey: The FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Sanders had hinted at this earlier in the day, saying the White House believed that by removing Comey, it took steps to make sure the FBI’s Russia investigation would “come to its conclusion with integrity.”)

What makes this suggestion even more ludicrous is the complaint that conservatives routinely made about the White House press corps during the Obama administration — that they were just taking dictation rather than pressing Obama with tough questions. That was not altogether fair, although at some points during Obama’s presidency it did seem more like an entourage than a professional group of skeptics. Trump’s now proposing to transform the press corps into a stenography pool, and not because of any inaccuracy on their part, but because he’s now arguing that it’s impossible for his own team to offer accurate answers to questions.

Say, didn’t Trump run on his ability to put together the most competent team possible?

I’ll let our Townhall colleague and White House correspondent Katie Pavlich have the final word:

Without questioning, White House written statements are simply government propaganda https://t.co/A8sbvbOWfD

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) May 12, 2017