So how did the Enfant Terrible-in-Chief attack the free press this weekend?

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

Now what.

Sometime last week, I think it might have been as late as Thursday evening, I remarked to my husband that Trump had been uncharacteristically quiet. No rash tweets, no irresponsible comments about judges or the press or imaginary boogeymen. But far from thinking that he had finally started acting like a real president, I told Mr. T that I was bracing myself for whatever was coming, because it was going to be big.

And I wasn’t wrong. As I was writing Friday’s post and bitching about Trump and Steve Bannon’s comments about the media during their appearances at CPAC, Melissa McCarthy character Sean Spicer was busy relieving CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the BBC, Politico and Buzzfeed of their privileges to the White House press briefing that afternoon. Time and the AP chose not to attend in protest.

The White House claimed that this wasn’t problematic because they invited the press pool to the briefing. However, it is unprecedented to use a pool of reporters on a routine White House press briefing and to exclude reputable media outlets. This was a deliberate provocation and statement of aggression towards the media.

And Jake Tapper was not having it.

And Fox News’ Shep Smith came to CNN’s defense once again, because what the White House did is some ripe bullshit:

As for The New York Times, they issued a statement reading, “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.”

They also turned their recent treatment by Trump into this trenchant ad which ran during last night’s Oscars:

And Wittle Baby Trump did not care for it one bit.

What’s funny — EXCEPT THERE’S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT IT AT ALL — is that back in December before his soul was completely crushed out of him, Sean Spicer swore that President Trump, as opposed to Candidate Trump, would treat the media with respect. Furthermore, he added that banning the press from government events is something that dictatorships do.

bethenny-okay-alright-rhony-resigned

Now, one of the things that I neglected to mention while I was railing against Trump’s comments at CPAC, is that he is SO MAD at the press for using anonymous sources. SO  ANGRY.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name,’ Trump told an enthusiastic crowd of conservatives at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference gathering outside Washington, D.C.

“I want you all to know we are fighting the fake news. Phoney. Fake,” he said to roars of approval.

“I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are…because they have no sources; they just make them up when there are none. They make up sources,” the president said.

“And they shouldn’t use ‘sources’,” he said, adding they should be required to put the names of everyone to whom they speak into their reports. The end result, he explained, “you will see stories dry up like you’ve never been before.”

First of all, that’s not how the First Amendment or journalism works. Not at all. Not even a little bit. But second of all, this is from a man who repeatedly claimed to have “sources” who told him President Obama’s birth certificate was fake, and spent his entire campaign spewing all sorts of lies while claiming that they were things that “many people are saying,” including the craziness that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of JFK. And let’s not forget that he himself used to call magazines and tabloids under a fake name to try to plant flattering stories about himself. BUT FOR A DOSE OF HYPOCRISY, many reporters are saying that his White House regularly demands anonymity for stories. So, it’s not like Trump hates anonymous sources, he just hates anonymous sources who aren’t selling his bullshit.

BUT WE’RE NOT DONE! Because this weekend, our orange snowflake also announced via Twitter that he would not be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner.

If I am being completely honest, this development is more pitiful than outrageous. Yes, he’s the first President since JFK to not attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with the exception of Reagan who had just been shot, but who still managed to call in. But does Trump skipping out on an event where he does not have a great history and whose attendees he has openly declared all-out war on really surprise you? Sure, he’s a thin-skinned wuss, but I think his screaming at the press for the past month or so has been made abundantly clear already.

Christ, what an asshole.

Alright, let’s talk briefly about the Oscars

I usually not-live-blog these things, but by now everyone and their nephew knows how the ceremony shat the bed last night, and between that and the fact that I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies, I’m not sure may snark will add anything to the conversation this year, so I’m going to skip it.

I will say that I thought Jimmy Kimmel did a fine job as host, except for when he didn’t, and that some of his bits were fun, except for when they weren’t.

Congratulations to all the winners — the real winners — including Mahershala Ali, Oscar’s first Muslim actor; the incomparable Viola Davis; O.J. Made in America, the best 10-hour documentary I’ve ever seen on television; and the winners who could not be in attendance thanks to our administration’s nonsense.

Some people are mad about Florence Henderson and Gary Shandling being left out of the in memoriam, when fellow TV actress Mary Tyler Moore was included. EXCEPT MARY TYLER MOORE WON WAS NOMINATED FOR A GOD DAMNED OSCAR, SO. Also upset by the in memoriam: Jan Chapman, who was included despite still being alive.

And here is a nice collection of the things you didn’t see on last night’s broadcast. Emma Stone crying when she sees her friend and fellow Oscar winner Brie Larson is very sweet.

nicole kidman can't clap.gif

R.I.P.

Bill Paxton, legendary film actor, star of Big Love and Training Day, and director

Reportedly, the entire season of Training Day has been filmed, but Paxton’s untimely death certainly puts the low-rated season’s fate in further jeopardy.

Storm chasers paid tribute to the Twister actor in a touching way. And stars reacted on Twitter.

Judge Wapner, ground-breaking TV judge

Neil Fingleton, Mag the Mighty on Game of Thrones 

Chris Wiggins, character actor

Patty Freedman, actress and publicist

In Other TV News

Doubt’s future is doubtful as any show’s future can be, and after only two episodes. To be clear, there are some outlets that are reporting that Doubt is cancelled. It is not officially cancelled — but it will be.

Syfy’s Incorporated, which was not a bad little series, has been canceled after only one season.

If you were hoping Trump would be the villain in American Horror Story: Election (or whatever it is going to be called), you’re going to be disappointed.

American Horror Story is going to be about the election that we just went through. And what I’m interested in doing is not just the obvious, single-minded point of view but rather express all sides of that equation. What needs to happen in our country now is for people to listen to each other – we may not always agree with each other and we may be horrified by what the other side is doing but we have to move toward understanding. So that’s one example of what I’m going to do. And then all of the stuff that I’m developing now is going to be about illuminating and highlighting people who don’t have a voice in our culture — people who are ignored by the current administration and who are afraid and feel terrorized that their lives are going to be taken away. I’m interested not just in writing about those people but also in using my financial means to give back to them as well.

Murphy also says that Watch What Happens Live! gave him three martinis in 20 minutes, which is pretty hilarious.

Amazon has picked up Fortitude, a psychological thriller that stars Dennis Quaid, and has nothing to do with his relationship with Randy.

Netflix has set a Tracy Morgan stand-up special.

Oh, lordt, the Writers Guild is making strike noises again.

The Emmys have added more categories: Outstanding Casting in a Reality Series; Outstanding Music Supervision and cinematography will be split into one-hour and half-hour categories.

Going to SXSW? You should check out the Double R Diner pop-up/Twin Peaks immersive experience. And here are the new posters for the series, if you haven’t seen them yet.

Hey, Adam Scott, Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich from Parks and Recreation came to Houston last week for HSPVA’s annual Encore Luncheon where they honored the late Parks and Rec writer and actor Harris Wittels.

Here is a new Doctor Who promo for ya:

Casting News

WATCH THIS

The Bachelor: HEY IT’S ONLY AN HOUR LONG THIS WEEK I WIN! 7 p.m., ABC

When We Rise: A miniseries about the LGBTQ activists who helped create and shape the equality movement. It is on every night through Friday, except for Tuesday to make room for Donald Trump’s address to Congress, which feels like a metaphor. 8 p.m., ABC

The Voice: This is back. Season premiere. 7 p.m., NBC

Tickled: A look into “competitive tickling.” I am not even kidding about that. 9 p.m., HBO

Taken: Yep, they’ve turned the Liam Neeson movies into a series. Series premiere 9 p.m., NBC

Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Aaron Paul, Keri Russell Late Night with Seth Meyers: Matthew Broderick, David Boreanaz, Regina Spektor, Vinnie Colaiuta The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Connie Britton, Zoey Deutch, Lori McKenna The Late Late Show with James Corden: Dr. Phil McGraw, Sara Bareilles, Linkin Park featuring Kiiara Jimmy Kimmel Live: Mike Birbiglia, Lady AnteBell Biv DeVoe (a mash-up of Lady Antebellum and Bell Biv DeVoe) Conan: Adam Scott, Genesis Rodriguez The Daily Show: John Oliver Watch What Happens Live: Stassi Schroeder, Josh Henderson

MON. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC The Bachelor
(new)		 When We Rise
(new)
CBS The Big Bang Theory
(repeat)		 Man With a Plan
(new)		 Superior Donut
(new)		 2 Broke Girls
(new)		 Scorpion
(new)
CW Supergirl
(new)		 Jane the Virgin
(new)		 Local
FOX 24: Legacy
(new)		 APB
(new)		 News/Local
NBC The Voice
(new)		 Taken
(new)

5 thoughts on “So how did the Enfant Terrible-in-Chief attack the free press this weekend?”

    1. You know, I think it’s a combination of long fingers + angle + weird clapping technique. It’s very strange.

      -T

      Reply

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