WATCH: Jen Psaki Tells Parents How to #PsakiBomb Their Kids Right in the Middle of Target

Tommy ChristopherJun 5th, 2021, 1:01 pm
 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki delivered a pitch-perect bit of self-satire when she told a group of social media influencers how to use her particular set of skills on kids if they’re melting down in a Target store.

On Friday, Psaki conducted what was billed as the “first-ever social media briefing” with a group of influencers that Mother Jones’ Lil Kalish helpfully assembled into a list with links:

In one particularly canny moment, Stratton asked Psaki about a situation that many parents can relate to:

Stratton: Kids constantly ask for expensive toys, and even when the answer is a definite no, parents often respond with ‘maybe?’ in order to avoid, like, a nuclear meltdown in the middle of Target, but then they have to deal with the relentless follow-up questions, like ‘Why not now? When will it be happening?’ That kind of thing. And I feel like this is a relatable situation for a press secretary. Any advice on how to shut that down effectively?

Psaki: Well, I think parents could try this with their kids, and we’ll see if it works. I’m not going to be able to get you that toy now. I’m happy to discuss this next week when we have an opportunity to have this conversation again.

Stratton: So we should tell toddlers we can circle back, that’s what you’re saying?

Psaki: Yes, some version of that, absolutely. And we’ll see what’s possible. Punt it to the birthday. That’s my short-hand advice.

We would have also accepted “I don’t have any toy box personnel announcements at this time,” “I don’t want to get ahead of Santa Claus,” or “You mean in addition to getting a global pandemic under control?”

Pski also took an important stand in telling fathers that “Watching your kids is not babysitting!”

The briefing drew eerily similar criticism from Russian state media and Breitbart, as well as a barb from an associate professor at Syracuse University:

Politico’s West Wing Playbook was more charitable:

Psaki also took some gentler questions this afternoon from influencers at what the White House billed as its “first-ever social media briefing.” HANNAH BRONFMAN called Psaki a “boss lady” and asked for parenting tips. BENITO SKINNER wondered whether Psaki had met LADY GAGA at Biden’s inauguration. (Sadly, no: She was on a bus to the White House during the performance.)

Psaki told JONATHAN SCOTT and DREW SCOTT of HGTV’s “Property Brothers” that her young daughter was “obsessed” with their show. And she didn’t challenge Jonathan’s boast at one point that he was “the better-looking Property Brother.”

“Clearly,” Psaki said. “I can confirm that.”

The focus of the event was President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan, and it was definitely not designed to be adversarial, although one of the social media creators — again, Stratton — did ask Psaki “Who’s going to pay for it? Are you saving me a few hundred dollars a month, only for me to pay a few thousand dollars in taxes at the end of the year?”

Psaki responded with another trademark tool, asking Stratton “Are you a CEO of a major corporation?”

But it’s fair to say that the object was not for any sort of grilling to occur.

On the other hand, Psaki has already held 77 briefings in the first 135 days of the Biden administration, while Trump administration press secretaries held just 93 briefings in their entire first year — and that was the high-water mark. And unlike the short Trump-era briefings — many of which failed to crack the 20-minute mark — Psaki briefs at length, and generally takes questions until there are no more questions.

As for the viewership, the idea here appears to be to reach people through the creators’ social media audiences. The White House YouTube video has just over 13,000 views, but some of the influencers have already begun to disseminate clips to their viewers, to the tune of over 100,000 views so far.

Watch above via The White House.

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