Jen Psaki: “They Did Not Have Somebody Sitting In The Oval Office Pouring Flames On It”

While talking about the about the governor of Utah calling for an off ramp for political violence,Jen Psaki once again used tragedy as an opportunity to swipe at Donald Trump — but her point was as wrong as her metaphor. Speaking with Democrat Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, Psaki said:

“I, I thought about you and your Minnesota colleagues so, so much this week because it was really only June when your friend Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed. That's really not that long ago. And I remember at the time and I assumed in the months since it's really required people coming together who disagree, um, coming together who… now, again, they did not have somebody sitting in the Oval Office pouring flames on it.”

Psaki was trying to frame Trump as the kind of president who “pours flames on it,” stirring up division instead of calming crises. But in the same breath, she said that during the June tragedy there was not somebody in the Oval Office pouring flames on it. The problem is obvious: Trump was the one in the Oval Office in June. By her own words, he didn’t inflame the situation — which completely undercuts her attempt to argue that President Trump “pours flames” on crises.

And then there’s the metaphor itself. Pouring flames on it? The phrase doesn’t even exist — you can pour gasoline, you can fan flames, but you can’t pour flames. When Psaki talks, even the metaphors need fact-checking.