In this particular case, because it’s a GQ question 
Specifically, he said* viewed around the world*. He’s probably right since Putin didn’t order everyone in Russia to watch Obama get inaugurated.
Nope, he can’t weasel out of it that way. Spicer’s exact words:
“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period,” Spicer said. “Both in person and around the globe.”
For the same reason he exaggerates about everything - he’s a very insecure person who fears that if everything he does isn’t the best and the biggest and the greatest, that people will see him as the loser he knows he is.
“Both in person and around the globe” can mean the total number of people witnessing the inauguration. That is, adding the “in person” people to “around the globe”.
Which very well may be true.
Nope, I don’t buy that at all. He is clearly trying to claim that BOTH the numbers of in person attendance and the viewers around the globe were the highest ever. If there was any doubt about that then his later claims that the media are lying about the in-person attendance makes clear his intent.
Here is the full text of the press conference, and his figures for public transport ridership don’t match those released by the Washinton public transport authority either. The man is flat out lying about something which can be objectively measured.
You joke, but this is exactly what Trump supporters argued on a few news sites I read. That, and the media lies about the size of the crowds, and the footage was “photoshopped”. They haven’t seem to have agreed on which is which as it can’t be both.
“May be” but it seems doubtful. The inauguration got far fewer domestic viewers than Obama’s had so unless there was a surge of international interest above and beyond what Obama had, I can’t imagine that global numbers compare.
It’s clear from the aerial shots that Obama drew the bigger crowds but, as Okrahoma pointed out, it’s perfectly understandable that more people would want to be present at the making of history with the inauguration of the first black president. (The suggestion by another poster that equal crowds should have turned out for the ‘historic’ event of a non-politician President is surely not serious.)
But why then did Trump and his press secretary say otherwise? Were they lying?
Yes
It is also clear that this particular argument, whether true or not, was not brought up by either Trump or his reps, so it is not pertinent to the question as to which figures are correct. The numbers are in question, not the reasons for them.
Nevermind. Thought this was GD.
" Like it or not, we live in interesting times."
My perception FWIW is that here in the UK the inauguration has garnered far more interest than even Obama’s with the ceremony broadcast live on major TV networks. This should not be taken as necessarily supportive of Trump as even in the country of Brexit very few have anything good to say about him, apart from toadying politicians most of whom were stridently critical before the election. I see it more as shocked fascination, a bit like watching Russian car-crash videos on YouTube.
No doubt Putin ordered the citizens of Russia to view the event.
I wanted one of them to say it.
Trump’s Press Secretary was lying.
Trump himself was probably truthfully saying what his brain was telling him at that minute. While standing in front of the CIA’s memorial wall, which has stars instead of names for CIA personnel killed on duty…
(And what will Trump’s brain tell him late at night in the White House–after Melania’s returned to NYC? The residence of every President since John Adams (although I think Truman moved out when the place was renovated). Where FDR saw the country through Depression & War. Where Lincoln’s & JFK’s bodies lay in state. Where a drunken Nixon raged in the last days before his resignation.)
I’m *better *than these guys!
I like Presidents who can can walk. lurches around room
I prefer Presidents who don’t get shot in office! pretends to dodge bullets
I like Presidents who don’t get caught! mimes being handcuffed Loser!
Obvious Russia jokes aside (no offense, I was going to make one in my post myself) it seems that Russia didn’t broadcast it at all.
I haven’t seen what the UK ratings but in 2009, Obama’s inauguration drew 5mil viewers. I think it’s safe to say that they didn’t make up an additional 7mil deficit this time around.
More to the point, no one believes that Spicer had international viewership numbers when he made his claim.