Sunday, February 19th
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appears on CBS' Face The Nation. Host John Dickerson opens the interview by asking Priebus whether the American people should take seriously Trump's assertion that the press is the enemy of the nation. Priebus says yes - because of the existence of bogus stories. "The enemy?," Dickerson asks again. Priebus says information from unnamed sources should not be reported by the media in the name of accuracy. Dickerson responds by saying that the White House has historically been frustrated by such things, but has refrained from calling the press the enemy. Priebus asks that the media report on some of Trump's accomplishments since taking office. And so on and so forth. Dickerson never quite gets his question answered.
Monday, February 20th
Protestors across the country take to the streets to 'celebrate' Not My President's Day. Maintaining a free press emerges as (another) one of many priorities Trump protestors espouse.
The same day, Trump tweets the following in response to his vague mention of an attack in Sweden at at a rally he hosted in Melbourne, FL on Saturday.
Plenty happened on Tuesday, February 21st and Wednesday, February 22nd, but little of it involved the press.Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017
Thursday, February 23rd
Top officials from Trump's administration appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. In a joint interview, Priebus and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon repeatedly call the media the "opposition party" and base their lack of credibility in their inability to predict Trump's election.
Friday, February 24th
Trump follows in Bannon's footsteps, talking about the "dishonest" media's "false narratives" while addressing a large crowd at CPAC:
As described by CNN correspondent Sara Murray, the daily White House press briefing is downgraded to a gaggle and reporters are asked to put their names on a list to attend. When she later tries to enter, she - and reporters from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, Buzzfeed, and much of the foreign press - are blocked by a White House staffer who says they aren't on the list. She communicates that a select group of outlets - NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, Breitbart, The Washington Times, One America News Network - are allowed into the gaggle. The Associated Press and TIME boycott attending in response.
Inside the West Wing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer is questioned about the move.
Q One more question just about the idea that it seems as though you're playing favorites with media outlets by excluding some from this conversation.A similar situation occurred under Obama's administration in 2009, when FOX News was initially barred from interviewing Kenneth Feinberg. FOX News' then-Senior Vice President Michael Clemente said that when White House press pool chairman Chris Isham informed the other pool members - including FOX News - that the network would not be a part of the media availability “they unanimously said, instantly, no, that’s not gonna fly. Either Fox is in or none of us is doing it.”
MR. SPICER: You're my favorite. (Laughter.)
Q No, that's not what I'm asking. But do you have a response to that, though, given that that is a concern to some that want to see press have access to you, all out?
MR. SPICER: No, I think that -- right -- I think that we have shown an abundance of accessibility. We've brought more reporters into this process. And the idea that every time that every single person can't get their question answered or fit in a room that we're excluding people -- we've actually gone above and beyond with making ourselves, our team and our briefing room, more accessible than probably any prior administration. So I think you can take that to the bank. When you look at --
Q But why not those other outlets today?
MR. SPICER: Because, Cecilia, there's 3,000 people that are credentialed to come in here.
Q But there are six outlets that want to be in here right now. The New York Times --
MR. SPICER: No, there's not. Actually, that is false. To say that there are six -- maybe six that reached out to you, but that is not --
Q Well, but --
MR. SPICER: No, no, hold on --
Q -- listed in the White House Correspondents' Association's response to this.
MR. SPICER: I understand that. There are way more than six that wanted to come in. We started with the pool and then we expanded it. So I get it. But why -- I can ask -- there are plenty that want to come in at all times for every event. We do what we can to be accessible. And if there's a problem with that, I understand it. But we do what we can to accommodate the press. I think we've gone above and beyond when it comes to accessibility and openness and getting folks to -- our officials, our team. And so, respectfully, I disagree with the premise of the question.
Later that day, Trump tweets:
Saturday, February 25thFAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn't tell the truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017
Trump announces via Twitter - what else - that he will not attend the White House Correspondents Dinner in late April.
Major left wing influencers and media members alike quickly spread the news, some incorrectly citing that Richard Nixon was the last President to outright skip the dinner in an attempt to draw a comparison to nearly-impeached former President. Jimmy Carter was in fact the last to outright skip - in 1980 and 1978 (Ronald Reagan skipped in 1981 as well, but was recovering from surviving an assassination attempt).I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017
NPR succinctly described the event and the President's role in attending: "The annual dinner, sometimes referred to — affectionately and derisively — in Washington as "Nerd Prom," honors journalism with awards and scholarships. The president is a major a draw to help in those efforts. What began in 1921 as a simple awards dinner evolved into a highly glamorized affair that attracted Hollywood stars."
It's a break from tradition, but is it truly consequential? And as White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "if a Girl Scout egged your house, would you buy cookies from her? I think this is a pretty similar scenario."
Haha I like the Girl Scout analogy, but is that really applicable? I mean, someone getting their house egged randomly is left wondering why their home was the victim, whereas a President should know that they are open to criticism from news outlets. For someone who is supposed to be so tough, Trump has very, very thin skin when it comes to news. Write one story about something that he actually said, and he'll react like you just posted a video of him murdering puppies. It's insane. Freedom of speech is a core right of citizens in this country, and it's appalling that they think it's so okay to just deny that. What's more crazy is that so much of the actual fake news that was posted in places like Facebook actually SUPPORTED Trump. But now that the "fake" tables have turned, he's offended and suddenly on a crusade for the truth.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your Girl Scout analogy. I do not agree with President Trump not attending the White House Correspondents dinner. I think that it was an event that he could have attended in an attempt to try and make amends with some of the members of the media. In my opinion, him choosing to skip out on this event is extremely petty and low of the most powerful man on earth. Just because you do not like the way that some of the press is portraying you does not give you the right to abandon a dinner steeped in so much tradition. I do not think that any president tweeting his decision to skip the dinner is worthy of the presidency but I am open to all opinions and counterarguments.
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