By Michael Woyton
Still giddy from a temporary pass on having to allow a press organization to sully the White House with its presence, the felon-in-chief’s press secretary Karoline “Worse Than Spicer” Leavitt upped the ante.
At her daily stenography session Tuesday, Leavitt said she was “proud to announce” that the White House would be in charge of filling all the seats in the press room, instead of, as has been tradition, the White House Correspondents’ Association.
“Legacy outlets, who have participated in the pool for decades, will still be allowed to join — fear not,” Leavitt said. Until they piss off the golfer-in-chief about something?
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The Associated Press was kicked out of some events to which the press was invited and off of Air Force One for having the temerity to state in its stylebook that it would not be calling the Gulf of Mexico by the name the president made up for an executive order photo op.
The AP had sued the administration to restore its access to presidential events, but on Monday, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden said he wasn’t going to immediately order the restoration, saying that the issue required more exploration before a ruling could be issued, the AP reported.
FYI: The Associated Press is a nonprofit news cooperative and is owned by its members. It is neither government-funded nor privately owned.
In typical fashion, befitting an adjudicated rapist, the White House issued a statement after the judge’s ruling that said “asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right” and that “We stand by our decision to hold the Fake News accountable for their lies.”
The statement ended with “This is the most transparent Administration in history.”
Now that you’ve stopped laughing …
Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said Tuesday’s move “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States.”
“It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president,” the statement continued. “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”
Daniels also said that no heads up was given by the White House nor was there any discussion about the announcement.
Keep in mind the AP is being kept out because it didn’t want the administration dictating its editorial standards. The news organization said it would call the body of water bordering the U.S. and Mexico the Gulf of Mexico, a name that has been used for more than 400 years, “while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”
There once was a time that the press corps would have walked out when one of its own was slighted.
I fear those days are gone and that news organizations — legacy or not — feel there is more value in being a notetaker in the White House than standing up for principals.
Imagine being upset over getting scooped on the lies coming out of Leavitt’s mouth.
Think of the horror that would ensue if, for example, the New York Times were not in the room during one of Leavitt’s pressers and was not able to NOT push back on an obvious lie. (/endsarcasm)
The White House — and in particular this “president” — needs the press there more than the press in reality needs to be there. Attention whores need attention.
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Lead art: Screen grab from Fox News
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