Michael Scherer

That seems like a problem.

No, because I think you have to understand that the president has a different view of truth.

I mean, he simply does not prioritize being accurate.

As I was coming over here, I was listening to the president give a press conference about some EPA announcement he just put out.

And he was talking about how we've had such great job performance over the last year, like no one's ever seen before.

And we know that's not true.

You know, like there were less jobs created last year than there were the year before, the year before that.

It's just not true.

But the president says those sorts of things, I think, knowing that they're not true, because...

He thinks the things he says are made as part of a transaction with whoever he's speaking to, the American people usually, his voters, in which he's trying to get something from them.

So he's trying to sell something to them.

The president just doesn't prioritize accuracy in that way.

Yeah.

I think that is not a priority of the White House staff.

I think they feel like they need to present to the president reality in a way that would allow him to make good decisions.

And I do think there is...

quite a bit of effort that goes on inside the White House to channel the president.

I mean, another example we could just run through quickly is there's been this fight going on in the White House for a couple months now to get the president to talk about the thing that'll help Republicans win the midterms.

There's a big problem in the polls right now.

The American people don't think their economic situation's getting better.