Carolyn Kaster / AP
Sean Spicer, Republican National Committee communications director and chief strategist, stands in an elevator as he arrives at Trump Tower, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, in New York.
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017 | 2 a.m.
Incoming White House spokesman Sean Spicer has at least one thing in common with the American public: He said during an appearance Wednesday night at the University of Chicago he has no idea what President-elect Donald Trump is going to tweet next.
"I do not" know in advance what he'll tweet, Spicer told David Axelrod at an Institute of Politics event when asked if he knows what Trump will say next. "He drives the train on this."
Sympathizing, Axelrod asked Spicer if he sleeps at all, or whether he wakes up in dread at what Trump has tweeted.
"No," Spicer told him. "But I do look there first, because it drives the news."
Spicer's appearance -- also attended by former Obama administration spokesman Robert Gibbs, now with McDonald's -- was dominated by questions about Trump's tenuous relationship with the truth.
But Spicer said Trump believes everything he says and tweets, drawing a distinction between Trump's "right to express his opinion" and journalists' duty to the truth.
"It's one thing to make a statement, but if you're a journalist, your job is to get that right," he said, prompting an incredulous Axelrod to ask him, "Isn't that (also) the job of the President of the United States?"
Spicer dismissed the idea that Trump "tweets randomly" when he wades into complex issues, telling the audience that Trump is a "very strategic thinker ... he's actually been very successful at getting what he wants using Twitter."
Asked by Axelrod how Trump tweets, he scoffed "with his hands ... he has multiple devices."
The event Wednesday was threatened with an outbreak of projectile vomiting by a student protester. But while students asked Spicer pointed questions, only one protester, who complained about Trump's "fascist" policies before he was ushered out by security, interrupted Spicer while he spoke.
"I believe we're vomit-free," a relieved Spicer said, to laughter, at the end of the event.
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