President Trump issued a tweet that was directed, as always, at his followers and as a result the fake news media went into full meltdown mode. In one of his latest threats, the president asked whether he should revoke credentials of journalists. And as usual, the response tells us more about his opponents than it does about President Trump.
The media’s faux outrage included such hysterical responses as: Trump is attacking the First Amendment, Trump is attacking freedom of the press, Trump is going to have the government issue journalism licenses, et cetera ad nauseum. Even Matt Drudge fell for the feeding frenzy, buying into the claim that this will lead to government licensing for bloggers and conservative news sites.
First, why did Trump issue the threat? Because, as he said, 91% of all news coverage of his administration has been negative or completely fake. The economy is booming, North Korea seems to be ready to come to the peace bargaining table, the Iran nuke deal is nuked, the Paris global warming boondoggle is history, taxes have been cut, Obama’s job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership is in the dustbin, on and on and on. Yet the media coverage is all Stormy-Putin-Collusion-Trump-Is-Hitler.
Why should he bother holding daily press briefings to prop up the ratings at MSNBCBSABCFAKENEWS? Why should he allow hostile reporters to have access to the White House?
Restricting reporters’ White House access is not a violation of the First Amendment. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the Executive branch needs to have a Press Secretary or White House spokesperson, or that the White House must provide daily media briefings. If Trump eliminates the briefings tomorrow, that is not “creating a law” that restricts freedom of the press. Since most of the negative coverage relies on leaks and fabrications anyway, they don’t need to talk to Sarah Huckabee Sanders to get that information.
We know that Trump’s proposed threat would work, because it’s been done before. Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski of Alaska (2002-2006) became so frustrated with the negative liberal media coverage of his administration that he issued a press release announcing the purchase of a parakeet for the Governor’s mansion. In one of the most hilarious official statements ever, Murkowski said that he was buying the parakeet so that the Anchorage Daily News (the largest newspaper in Alaska) would finally have some relevance in his life.
Only one media outlet in Alaska was providing fair and impartial coverage of the Murkowski administration. So, Murkowski allowed that outlet exclusive access to cover his administration. After huffing and puffing for about two weeks, all the other media outlets in Alaska came crawling to the administration and promised to provide more fair and accurate coverage if they could once again have access to the Governor’s office. It worked.
Since the mainstream media just can’t quit Donald Trump, how long do you suppose it would take for them to do the same if he started restricting White House press credentials?
For members of the media who just can’t figure out why the American people hate you so very, very much – and why we view you as an enemy occupying force – here is a very simple example of how to do your jobs. Example A below illustrates how you are writing every news story about the Trump administration, and Example B illustrates how you should be doing your jobs:
A. President Trump and his Cabinet ate fast food for lunch today. President Trump had two cheeseburgers, French fries and a Diet Coke. An unnamed source tells fill-in-the-blank-news that after the lunch meeting, President Trump had two ice cream cones but only let his Cabinet members have one ice cream cone apiece.
This reporter was nauseated as the egotistical Trump and his storm troopers wolfed down meat products like hungry predators in front of me. I couldn’t help but wonder: Did a Person of Color, working for minimum wage, prepare this food for the Dictator Trump? If so, did he, she or them realize they were preparing a meal for a man who wants to destroy the Constitution and impose a Christian theocracy so that he can exterminate LGBT women and minorities? Would that person have poisoned the food if they had realized they were making a meal for the reincarnation of Hitler?
When will the American people rise up against this tyrant who sexually assaults the rainforest with words, every single time he speaks? I am literally shaking. Trump may have enjoyed his cheeseburger, but America has lost its appetite for the dangerous serial killer in the Oval Office.
B. President Trump and his Cabinet had a working lunch today. They discussed the upcoming summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and the efforts to secure a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Notice that option B is much shorter. It does not contain anonymous sources or fantasies that take place in the reporter’s head. It simply states the truth of what happened, and nothing more. It doesn’t praise or insult President Trump – it just says what happened in an accurate fashion. That’s how you’re supposed to do your job, media!
Finally, the response to Trump’s threat to revoke White House press credentials exposes the complete and total hypocrisy of the leftwing media. For those who have forgotten, President Trump is threatening to treat the liberal media the same way that the Obama administration treated conservative media outlets.
Does WND.com ring a bell with anyone? The Obama administration banned WND from asking questions at White House press briefings, claiming that the largest independent news outlet in the world is not really a news outlet.
The liberal media didn’t bother to circle the wagons and try to protect WND and other conservative outlets when that happened. There was no shrieking about Obama destroying the First Amendment.
As usual, the media’s response to President Trump’s threat boils down to: “How dare you do the exact same thing to us that Obama did to people we don’t like when he was in power?!”
You had your chance, fake news. You could have spoken out in favor of your fellow journalists when Obama was restricting their access. You could have said something when Obama spied on Fox News reporter James Rosen and almost charged him with treason, to try to figure out who was leaking information to him. But you didn’t. It’s not as much fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?
