Did you hear what the president said at the unveiling of his new White House helipad today?
Me neither. Pretty much no one did. In fact, the only video of Trump speaking that aired anywhere today had no sound, because four out of five major networks in the White House press pool—Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC—essentially went on strike in solidarity with CNN, which Trump banned from the premises yesterday (along with POLITICO and MSNOW) for being “fake news.”
It was Fox News’ Washington bureau chief, believe it or not, who made the announcement. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the networks said in a joint statement. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Even C-SPAN went dark on the president today, because there was no feed from the TV network pool from which to pull footage. Over on the alt right network Newsmax, which tried to air a video from the event provided by the White House, an anchor explained awkwardly why you couldn’t hear the sound from Trump’s remarks. “Okay so there’s no microphone because the pool cameras aren’t there,” she said. “So maybe, Ken, this is one example of this backfiring just a little bit…. Obviously the ramifications are here. You can’t hear what the president is saying.”
Indeed, nearly a year after Trump responded to an Epstein question by a female Bloomberg journalist with the words, “Quiet, piggy,” the mainstream media has finally said it back to him. The New York Times announced it will not publish or distribute images of President Trump as part of the protest. Even Fox News aired a segment about joining the boycott, explaining to viewers today how Trump is violating the First Amendment by banning news outlets whose coverage he doesn’t like.
Of course, you do not have to hand it to Fox News, which has defended its own anchors in court as being nothing but entertainers, spread election denial conspiracies, and is in large part responsible for putting Trump in the White House both times. But it is still very significant that Trump’s attacks on the free press have become so egregious that his most beloved and sycophantic network, which he reportedly watches all day to the exclusion of doing any of his actual job, actually took CNN’s side in this fight. For a TV-obsessed man who feeds on attention and was already spiraling about negative coverage of himself, nothing could be worse than Fox News refusing to send a microphone or camera to his event or Newsmax airing a silent video of his mouth moving. This war on the media really blew up in his face.
Trump has not reacted on social media yet to cable news shutting him out today, but the White House did suddenly announce an Orwellian, North Korea-style state-run media channel called “Trump TV” that feels pretty desperate. The president’s approval rating has finally dipped into the high 20s, he’s so unhinged that even Fox News is unable to give him the glowing coverage he craves, and they’re now just doing naked dictator shit.
Good; let him rattle about in his shrinking little echo chamber. When all of corporate media manages to locates their spine against a failing president, it’s pretty much over for him.
emperor has no clothes type shi