CNN playfully mocks Trump's 'Wizard of Oz' act at the White House press briefing

Sarah Huckabee Sanders stares at President Trump

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 5 January 2018

Sarah Huckabee Sanders turned Thursday's White House press briefing over to "special guest" President Trump for a few minutes, but there was a catch: He appeared on two TV screens, in a pretaped pep talk for the Republican tax overhaul, thus avoiding any questions. Trump "did avoid some zingers" about his mental acuity, Jeanne Moos noted at CNN, but reporters were unimpressed with the lecture from Trump's disembodied head. Some wags on Twitter compared the spectacle to The Wizard of Oz, "but there was no curtain-grabbing Toto to disturb the stagecraft at the briefing," Moos said, immediately mixing her metaphor. "Instead of making the trek from the Oval Office the president made like Star Trek."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.