White House press secretary Sean Spicer this week told a room full of journalists that even "someone as despicable as Hitler” did not sink to using chemical weapons - ignoring the fact that the Nazi leader gassed millions of Jews during World War II.
It was not the first time Donald Trump's bellicose aide has got into trouble with his words.
The 'facts' about those inauguration crowds
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.
One of Spicer's very first blunders was to claim that Trump's swearing-in ceremony had drawn the biggest live audience in history, despite visual evidence to the contrary. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period!” he said.
Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway later told NBC News her colleague had given out "alternative facts".
Remembering the Holocaust
When Trump was criticised for failing to mention Jews or anti-Semitism in a White House statement commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Spicer retaliated by saying his boss had "gone out of his way to recognise the Holocaust" and called critics "pathetic".
A tweet that goes beyond parody
Towards the end of January, Spicer enthusiastically retweeted an infographic by the satirical Onion website with the words: "You nailed it. Period!"
Entitled "Five things to know about Sean Spicer", the Onion's tweet actually stated that the press secretary's role was: "To provide the American public with robust and clearly articulated misinformation."
Atlanta's non-existent terror attack
In February, the White House had to correct Spicer's contention, made on three occasions, that there had been a terror attack in Atlanta.
An official said Spicer had meant to say Orlando, where 49 people were killed in a nightclub attack last June.
Meet the Canadian Prime Minister - Joe
Also in February, Spicer referred to "a productive set of meetings and discussions with Prime Minister Joe Trudeau of Canada", referring incorrectly to Justin Trudeau, Canada's political leader since 2015.
Days earlier, the press secretary had also referred to Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian premier, as "Prime Minister Trumble".
His trend of bungling his words has led to a video by GQ of Spicer's "alternative ABCs".
Watch this video on The Scene.
Flying the flag – upside down
In March, Spicer turned up to a press briefing wearing an upside-down American flag badge on his jacket. He made light of the error and fixed it, but the internet would not let the matter lie, remarking that in US government code, an inverted flag signals dire distress.
Whether or not, Spicer survives his latest slip-up, his combative persona and occasional inability to pronounce words have been a gift to satirists. Actor Melissa McCarthy's impersonations of him are by far the most watched videos on Saturday Night Live's YouTube channel.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"109216","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Trump backs off Greenland threats, declares ‘deal’Speed Read Trump and NATO have ‘formed the framework for a future deal,’ the president claimed
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
