Washington Post: “The Trump administration is ending as it began: with a lie about crowd size. On Saturday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted out two overhead photos of President Trump supporters who had gathered for a pro-Trump march in Washington, writing, ‘AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support.’ McEnany was off by many orders of magnitude — the crowd of thousands was a notable show of force, perhaps, but a far cry from the million marchers she claimed.”
“Her hyperbolic assertion was reminiscent of another baseless claim made by another Trump press secretary nearly four years ago. Sean Spicer stepped behind the briefing room lectern on his first full day on the job and, at the president’s urging, told falsehoods about the size of Trump’s inauguration crowds. ‘The only tragedy about the lie about crowd size is he’s always capable of finding people willing to lie for him,’ said Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s communication director for 11 days and has since become an outspoken critic of the president. McEnany did not respond to requests for comment about how she arrived at the incorrect 1 million figure. Trump himself tweeted Sunday that ‘tens of thousands’ had demonstrated. The symmetry does not end with the exaggerations about crowd size. Trump’s one-term presidency is poised to come full circle in myriad ways, from a consistent lack of strategic vision to his enduring efforts to delegitimize his political rivals, whoever they might be.”