Sean Spicer Now Approves of CNN — but Only When It's Convenient For Him

The day after Donald Trump's first congressional address, Sean Spicer shared inaccurate results of a CNN poll with his Twitter followers. According to Spicer, the poll in question found that 78 percent of viewers had a positive overall reaction to the president's speech. Meanwhile, 69 percent of viewers felt Trump would be able to lead the country in the right direction and 69 percent were left feeling generally more optimistic.

In @cnn poll 78% of @POTUS #JointAddress watchers say positive, 69% say policies will move country in right direction, 69% more optimistic

— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) March 1, 2017

There are a couple problems with Spicer's tweet. For starters, his numbers are not entirely accurate. According to the actual CNN poll Spicer is citing, 57 percent of viewers had a positive reaction to the speech and 21 percent had a somewhat positive reaction. Spicer seemingly combined those two figures to perpetuate the notion that 78 percent of viewers had a positive reaction when that is simply not the case.

(By comparison, Barack Obama's first congressional address garnered a 68 percent positive reaction. George W. Bush's score was 66 percent for his first address.)

Beyond that, Spicer's tweet is hypocritical in that he is citing CNN as a verifiable source after the administration has referred to it as an arbiter of "fake news" on numerous occasions. Just recently, Trump said the so-called "fake news media" consisted of CNN, The New York Times, ABC, CBS, and NBC. It's becoming apparent that CNN is part of the "fake news media" until it presents information that is beneficial to the president — then it's legitimate.