What did Donald Trump do today?
He accidentally nuked TV coverage of his upcoming football game appearance.
Earlier this week, a court ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the press passes of Politico, MS NOW, and CNN. Trump had banned them from the White House explicitly because he didn't like how the "free press"—his words—was reporting on him. That is illegal viewpoint discrimination on its face and a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from trying to restrict free speech or punish those who criticize it.
In the meantime, the five networks that run the White House TV pool refused to record Trump as they normally would, leading to Trump being effectively silenced for a few days. That may have been as effective a defense as any court order: Trump relies on what he calls the "lying press" (an echo of the Nazi slogan lügenpresse) to get him in front of a national audience. Trump's immediate response to the show of press solidarity, "Trump TV," turned out to be a YouTube channel hosting video already available on the White House website.
Today, Trump announced he was banning CNN again—this time, from accompanying him on Air Force One to watch the Tennessee-Texas football game tomorrow. The TV pool hasn't named a replacement for CNN, so Trump will once again be off the air.
That may actually work to his advantage. Trump is so toxic to voters right now, even in red states like Tennessee, that ticket prices for the game plummeted by more than $100 after he announced he would attend. The game itself will be telecast, but sports broadcasts usually cut away or mute audio when Trump is being booed, as he inevitably is in front of crowds at sporting events he can't personally evict from the premises or order around. Political reporting crews are typically the ones who provide actual coverage of Trump at such events: how loudly he's booed, how early he leaves, whether he falls asleep, how many hours' worth of delay his appearance creates for real fans, and so forth.
Why does this matter?
- Coming out against even the concept of a free press is about as un-American as you can get.
- There are much bigger problems Donald Trump should be worrying about right now than whether reporters notice what he's doing and tell people about it.