Presidential “spin” is nothing new. Ever since Woodrow Wilson convened the first White House press conference, presidential administrations have employed a variety of messaging tactics to influence public opinion.

Every president has been guilty of parsing or embroidering the truth and misleading the public, either willfully or unwittingly. Thus, we can’t really criticize President Trump for the litany of “alternative facts” that have emanated from the White House without conceding that he didn’t invent the practice.

But misleading the public has consequences. Previous administrations have had to make embarrassing concessions, such as President Obama apologizing for saying “if you like your health-care plan, you can keep it,” when it became apparent that Obamacare wasn’t nearly so flexible for millions of Americans.

Apologizing for deception is only necessary for presidents who care about their credibility. President Trump apparently does not. Trump hasn’t shied away from asserting things that are demonstrably false – the size of the crowd at his inauguration is just one example – yet shows no contrition for perpetuating falsehoods.

That shameless factor has trickled down to Trump’s surrogates like Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer, who accuse the media of a double-standard for holding the president to account when his tweets and statements don’t jibe with the facts.

Read more at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.