Kellyanne Conway, the Donald Trump adviser who coined the term “alternative facts”, has spoken out against pundits getting their facts wrong.
“People on TV are never really held to account for what they get wrong, and I’d like to remind your viewers, none of these people on TV are ever under oath,” Ms Conway said on TV, speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Ms Conway served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, and later, once he was president, as his senior counselor. As she defended the administration in TV interviews, she faced frequent accusations of being overly flexible with the truth.
The most infamous example came just two days into Mr Trump’s presidency. After White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed Mr Trump had enjoyed the “largest audience to ever to witness an inauguration, period” – a claim that was demonstrably false – NBC’s Chuck Todd challenged Ms Conway over the falsehood.
She responded by coining her most famous phrase.
“You’re saying it’s a falsehood,” Ms Conway said defensively, “and they’re giving – Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.”
“Alternative facts are not facts,” Mr Todd shot back. “They’re falsehoods.”
Critics of the Trump administration immediately seized on the phrase as an example of Orwellian doublespeak, and many have used the term to mock Mr Trump and his allies – especially Ms Conway – ever since.
On Twitter, the reactions to the former Trump aide’s “oath” comment were no exception.
“Miss Alternative Facts says what?” one viewer commented on a post of the video.
“BRB I need to go outside and scream at the top of my lungs,” another tweeted.
Another suggested an oath tailored to Ms Conway’s style of truth-telling: “Do you solemnly swear to tell the alternate facts, the whole alternate facts, and nothing but the alternate facts?”
The Independent has reached out to Ms Conway for comment.
