President Donald Trump is asking a federal appeals court to lift a ruling which stopped his administration’s ability to deny the Associated Press’ access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other White House spaces.
The restrictions came after an AP report referred to the Gulf of Mexico in a story, instead of calling it the Gulf of America. This week's Friday Read from Politico breaks down Trump's lifelong relationship with the AP, and other media outlets, as well as the implications this lawsuit has across the media landscape.
“It might sound like some farcical sitcom plot, but it’s also the deadly serious front line of what’s become Trump’s all-out war on the mainstream media,” Penned POLITICO’S Michael Kruse. “in his long, hyper-public life, this marks in Trump’s means of ascent nothing short of a massive shift. Because his relationship with the media is his most important relationship.”
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“Throughout his entire life, the media has played many roles for Trump: confidant, foil, and tacit (and sometimes not so tacit) partner,” Kruse wrote. He recalled comments Trump, himself has said about the media. Phrases like: “I use the media, way the media uses me — to attract attention.” Another view Trump previously had of the media was “We give each other what we need.”
However, this changed after the 2016 election, and even more so after 2024. “Trump has turned his performative anti-media schtick into actual anti-media deeds. Wielding lawsuits, executive actions, and the unleashing of allies and aides, he’s attempting to starve, squelch, or shutter network television stations, global news agencies, and reporters in Washington and beyond,” opined Kruse.
Yes, press briefings still happen, and Kruse recognized Trump is “far more accessible and available to the media than his predecessor. But he’s also more aggressively than ever prioritized and rewarded friendlier, more acquiescent outlets and individuals.”
Jill Abramson, a former executive editor of the New York Times, called Trump’s moves against the media “An all-fronts assault on the basic constitutional tenets that make America, America.”
Others told the outlet it’s simpler and more personal. “It’s about enemies. I don’t think he sits around and says, ‘Oh, I’m going to be an authoritarian,’” Hank Sheinkopf, a New York political strategist, said. “[Trump] says, ‘I have to even scores.’”
Former AP White House reporter Ron Fournier told Kruse. “[Trump] has now gone from just treating the press as a foil to now treating the press as an enemy that literally needs to be stomped out. My warning to all Americans is this is just a step.”