White House press secretary holds his ground on calling the PM 'Trumble'

Last week the White House was telling the world about "alternative facts". Now it seems they might be steering us into believing in an alternative prime minister.

Yesterday White House press secretary Sean Spicer was mocked for mispronouncing Malcolm Turnbull's name as "Trumble".

But at a briefing overnight Spicer repeated the error, which may well mean that the Trump Administration is trying to rebrand the prime minister.

Spicer has shown that he is somewhat iffy on Turnbull's name, but moments before repeating his blunder he may well have mixed up the prime minister's identity.

"Chief of staff Priebus and Chief Strategist Bannon did meet with the prime minister yesterday," Spicer told the White House press corps, before a reporter interjected.

"Ambassador. Appreciate the correction."

Spicer had confused Mr Turnbull with Joe Hockey, who has been the ambassador to the United States since midway through last year.

It's been a tumultuous fortnight for Spicer, so he can be forgiven for a few slips of the tongue.

But given Spicer's stern insistence on standing his ground, we may have to start calling the prime minister Malcolm Trumble ourselves.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, tweeted overnight that the "FAKE NEWS media" had lied about his reportedly tempestuous conversation with Mr Turnbull.

The tweet, you may notice, did not identify the prime minister by name.