Trump presidency takes dangerous turn with media exclusions

Donald Trump’s improbable victory saw him demolish political and societal norms to the delight of tens of millions of Americans fed up with an insular establishment they considered oblivious to their discontent. As a candidate, Trump redefined acceptable behavior for political and public figures.

But there remains behavior that is unacceptable.

As president, Trump has spent five more weeks stomping on norms, even calling certain news outlets “the enemy of the American People!” Friday, his administration crossed a line by putting his words into action, barring some of those outlets from a press briefing at the White House. Press secretary Sean Spicer’s decision to hold a private briefing without CNN, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed instead of the usual briefing open to all accredited media is the sort of a thing a dictatorial government would do.

Says who? Says Spicer. At, ironically, a Politico event in December, Spicer was asked if the Trump White House would continue the Trump campaign’s practice of banning some reporters and outlets. “Look, there’s a big difference between a campaign where it is a private venue using private funds and a government entity,” Spicer said. “I think we have a respect for the press when it comes to the government. That is something you can’t ban an entity from. Conservative, liberal or otherwise, that’s what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship.”

Spicer was right then and is wrong now. Alas, Trump and his aides seem unlikely to back down soon. They reacted with fury to a CNN story that the White House had sought to get FBI help to discredit a New York Times report that detailed contacts between Russian intelligence officials and Trump’s associates. Top Trump aides — speaking off the record — said it was grossly unfair to imply there was something unseemly about what the White House had done because FBI officials privately told Chief of Staff Reince Priebus the Times story was inaccurate. The Trump aides say that the FBI officials were asked to share this view publicly but declined. CNN stands by its framing of its report and the Times stands by its story as well. But the White House believes its grievance is valid and real even as new reporting raises fresh doubts about its claims.

Flash back to 2009, when the Obama administration attacked Fox News. “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told The New York Times. CNN’s Jake Tapper, to his great credit, pushed back strongly, and the Obama administration backed down. Friday, Bret Baier of Fox News replied in kind, saying such White House briefings “should be open to all credentialed orgs.”

Everyone should hope that this contretemps plays out similarly because the stakes are so high.

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