Sean Spicer reportedly adopted 'you can't make this s--t up' as his personal White House mantra

For the record, Sean Spicer couldn't believe it either.
The former White House press secretary was apparently so bewildered by the predicaments he found himself in as President Trump's first press shop boss that he adopted a disbelieving personal refrain: "You can't make this s--t up."
That's according to Michael Wolff, author of the forthcoming tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Wolff's book will be released Jan. 9, but on Thursday, he wrote a companion column for The Hollywood Reporter that chronicled his experience reporting as a fly on the wall in the Trump White House. In the column, he claims Trump's staff was cynical behind the scenes, even as they kept a loyal face in public:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Politics is a game, of course, of determined role-playing, but the difficulties of staying in character in the Trump White House became evident almost from the first day.
"You can't make this [s--t] up," Sean Spicer, soon to be portrayed as the most hapless man in America, muttered to himself after his tortured press briefing on the first day of the new administration, when he was called to justify the president's inaugural crowd numbers — and soon enough, he adopted this as a personal mantra. [...] Kellyanne Conway, who would put a finger-gun to her head in private about Trump's public comments, continued to mount an implacable defense on cable television, until she was pulled off the air by others in the White House who, however much the president enjoyed her, found her militancy idiotic. (Even Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner] regarded Conway's fulsome defenses as cringeworthy.)
Steve Bannon tried to gamely suggest that Trump was mere front man and that he, with plan and purpose and intellect, was, more reasonably, running the show. [Michael Wolff, via The Hollywood Reporter]
Read Wolff's full column at The Hollywood Reporter, or read excerpts from Fire and Fury at The Guardian or New York.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
How worried should we be about asteroids?
Today's Big Question Odds of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth have fluctuated wildly this week
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Why does Elon Musk take his son everywhere?
Talking Point With his four-year-old 'emotional support human' by his side, what message is the world's richest man sending?
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why are sinkholes becoming more common?
Podcast Plus, will Saudi investment help create the "Netflix of sport"? And why has New Zealand's new tourism campaign met with a savage reception?
By The Week UK Published
-
Trump seeks to end New York's congestion pricing
Speed Read The MTA quickly filed a lawsuit to stop the move
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump officials try to reverse DOGE-led firings
Speed Read Mass firings by Elon Musk's team have included employees working on the H5N1 bird flu epidemic and US nuclear weapons programs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump blames Ukraine for war after US-Russia talks
Speed Read The US and Russia have agreed to work together on ending the Ukraine war — but President Trump has flipped America's approach
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Musk's DOGE seeks access to IRS, Social Security files
Speed Read If cleared, the Department of Government Efficiency would have access to tax returns, bank records and other highly personal information about most Americans
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as health secretary
Speed Read The noted vaccine skeptic is now in charge of America's massive public health system
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump lays out plans for broad 'reciprocal' tariffs
Speed Read Tariffs imposed on countries that are deemed to be treating the US unfairly could ignite a global trade war and worsen American inflation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Top US prosecutors resign rather than drop Adams case
speed read The interim US attorney for the Southern District and five senior Justice Department officials quit following an order to drop the charges against Mayor Eric Adams
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Senate confirms Gabbard as intelligence chief
Speed Read The controversial former Democratic lawmaker, now Trump loyalist, was sworn in as director of national intelligence
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published