Donald Trump learned how to manipulate the media while instilling distrust in it directly from his Daddy Vladdy Putin.
Beginning in 2015, when Trump ousted a Univision reporter from a press conference, what started as a simmer became a roiling boil that led to his petty, arbitrary, and unconstitutional press ban last month — which a Trump-appointed federal judge blocked.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the ban likely violated the Constitution because the impacted reporters weren't notified or given a chance to defend themselves before they lost White House access. Kelly also said that revoking their access “probably” was a violation of their constitutional rights.
Probably? DEFINITELY.
And Trump didn’t like that at all.
“I don’t want them in my office,” Trump whined. “I don’t want them here.”
Because they’ll just keep telling the truth about him, which he hates. And he keeps telling them so.
“The MSM has PTSD from TFG,” I wrote on my Substack all the way back in early October 2023 (remember when Joe Biden called Trump “The Former Guy”? Dark Brandon should’ve been the media’s darling, not the convicted felon who fomented an insurrection and stole classified documents from the White House), and it’s still true to this day. But at least they’re finally taking some steps to find their missing spines.
"The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity," they wrote to Kelly in their attempt to keep their press passes active until he issues a final decision in the case.
As I wrote here in February, the press has an obligation to report on what Trump is doing right in front of all of us, and they need to do better once the ban is permanently lifted.
Trump has an entire compromised party to help him lie to the American people. Attorney General Todd “Traitorous Trumpsimp” Blanche appeared on ABC’s This Week and claimed that media outlets are only reporting what the Trump administration considers to be “one-sided” news, and actually said that their access to Trump caused “a national security issue severe enough to justify banning the press from gaining access to the White House and Air Force One.”
What the Trump administration considers “one-sided” is what we call THE TRUTH, tiny traitorous Toddy.
“By the way, that is what is a national security problem,” Blanche continued. “When you have complete misinformation coming out of the White House, that affects our relationship with our foreign partners. That affects our relationship with our foreign enemies."
That is some hella projection language from the guy leading the Epstein Files coverup.
TRUMP is the national security problem and always has been. Maybe someday we’ll find out all of the truth about how he compromised what used to be the GOP, but first, we’ll need to rehab the media.
It’s worth remembering that the warning signs were there all along that the Freedom of the Press guaranteed by the First Amendment meant nothing to him.
Remember when he booted the Associated Press for a minute because they refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”? The AP sued to get its access back, but it's done basically nothing to hold him accountable.
Trump’s verbal abuse has only gotten worse, with him directly attacking individuals with terrible nicknames and physically threatening them. Trump called the female journalists who dared to question him names like “Piggy,” “ugly,” “dumb,” and “stupid,” while the rest of the White House press corps did nothing to defend their colleagues in the moment.
Acting timid is basically giving Trump carte blanche to keep bullying them. The New York Times has said they see a continued boycott as “untenable.”
If you’re covering Trump, cover him the way the media is supposed to cover everyone: unsparingly, even when it’s uncomfortable. Kudos to Kaitlan Collins for absorbing all of the energy we’ve been sending her way.
“We don’t want fake news like you” means “I don’t want you telling the truth about me.”
Submissiveness from the media is unacceptable, especially at this point in Trump’s long, weak game. The press has to know by now that he’s always lying and moving goalposts, so they need to change the way they report on him from now on. As usual, I’m not just complaining about their lack of a spine without offering some help. I’ve offered them free advice over and over, but I’m happy to keep repeating it so that it finally sticks.
If you’re on the press line and Trump doesn’t answer your question (because he won’t), the next person should ask that same question. Keep that going until he either accidentally blurts out something he never meant to say or he walks away. And then you turn to your camera and explain how Trump just refused to tell the American people the truth about [whatever], and that the truth is actually [whatever the truth is].
And it’s up to us to make them do this.
There is so much “this never should have happened” when it comes to Trump, but the media’s early submissiveness is one of the most glaring. So when you see any member of the media capitulating to Trump, call them out. Make them do their jobs. The truth is difficult and not always pretty, but it always matters.
And right now, it’s essential for our national security and the future of our democracy. Demand better from the press every day, because we won’t ever get it from Republicans.
