President Donald Trump and the rest of his administration have had enough of the biased coverage of mainstream media outlets and decided to take action against them by banning them from the White House. Now there are networks who have opted not to seek access to the White House, transforming the ban into a boycott.
The White House decided to answer that by going for a higher level of transparency via livestreaming. Last week, President Trump took to Truth Social where he called out “FICTION and LIES” from “Fake News” outlets as he announced he would be banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from having access to the White House. At the start of the week, the networks filed a lawsuit against Trump and the administration.
The suit gained a lot of support from peers in the journalism industry, but the president still had a bullet in the proverbial chamber: “Trump TV.” The president launched the project as a means of granting the American people a whole new way to get involved with the chief executive. A caption that was included in a post for a teaser video that said, “IT’S LIVE.”
According to an article by BizPaceReview said that the video was set to a remix of the song, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” The rest of the caption read, “TRUMP TV IS STREAMING NOW. 24/7, updated in real time, with top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place. Not every big moment has made it on your TV, now it can.”
The administration’s new YouTube channel came just mere hours after the three networks filed a lawsuit against the White House saying the ban is a violation of their First Amendment rights. “The President banned CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, and the individual reporters covering the news for those media organizations, in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause.”
“He did so expressly for the improper purpose of retaliating against Plaintiffs for past news coverage because he deemed it ‘negative’ and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions,” the lawsuit read. “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the court document claimed as Fox News and other major networks stood in solidarity with the plaintiffs.
President Trump, never a man to remain silent when being attacked, issued a response to the lawsuit, slamming the judge involved in the case due to his former ruling in a matter concerning Jim Acosta when he fought back against his hard pass revocation. “It is called the Oval Office, and it should be treated with Decorum, Respect, and Dignity, not defiled by Third Rate Clowns, who purposefully distort, twist, and degrade with everything they write or publish,” Trump said on Truth Social.
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“Virtually every story about me, or anything having to do with me, is negative, wrong and, in many cases, DANGEROUS for our Country!” the president added. Trump addressed the situation again during a press conference following a meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a socialist Democrat. “I think the press also has an obligation. And, you know, I won in a landslide; I won the election in a landslide. I’ve done great things,” Trump said in response to questions about the lawsuit.
“I’ve done a lot of great things. I’ve settled eight wars; we have the best economic numbers for the country in the history of our country, we have $21 trillion pouring in … Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done. I never get anything positive. It’s always negative,” he said. The president wasn’t done there, going on to say the press has an obligation to be fair.
“I think that these outlets have an obligation to be fair. And if they’re fake news, I really think I have an obligation not to allow them into [the White House] … They’re very bad for the country, very bad for national security,” continued the president. “So I have that obligation. So we’ll see how it works out.” Trump has always been transparent when it comes to his feelings about the media, which is one of the reasons so many voters love him.
The president also mocked the media for failing to carry out their promise of a boycott, essentially pointing out that they need him for the sake of ratings and making money, which is why they still covered him and the press event. “It’s interesting because they said they were going to boycott me — but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press!” Trump said.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video