Since Jim Acosta’s clutching of a news briefing microphone like Hillary Clinton clutches relevance (here, here, and here) and the Left clutches pearls, much has been said about Trump’s appearances before the White House press corps. The President appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace with an intriguing suggestion for future press conferences.
“I think one of the things we’ll do is maybe turn the camera off that faces them because then they don’t have any air time. Although, I’ll probably be sued for that and maybe, you know, win or lose it, who knows. I mean, with this stuff, you never know what’s going to happen.”
At least off the bat, I like it. Although, I’m only thinking about Jim Acosta. Surely Washington has never seen a more narcissistic pundit and television star hopeful, masquerading as a reporter (here). As indicated previously, I wish CNN would just give Jim his own opinion show and do away with any pretense of reporting. The only flaw there is it serves as a reward for violating all of the ethics of actual professional reporting (here).
But hey — it’d get him out of the way. The guy’s become a real impediment to White House briefings. He’s the kid in the class who keeps everyone else from being able to learn. While the rest of the country’s trying to get information from the Leader of the Free World, Jim’s shooting spitballs at the chalkboard, throwing balls of wadded paper, kicking the kid in front of him, raising his hand to offer sarcastic comments, and farting loudly. Please send him to detention, already — even if it involves a half-hour per night of air time on one of the worst news networks in history.
The Donald hit the Ejection button on Acosta last week due to disruptive and unruly behavior, but a judge ruled that Jim wasn’t given due process. Absurdly, CNN sued on grounds of the First Amendment (Hey — where are your and my press passes, if it’s a First Amendment issue?). The court didn’t address the issue of freedom of speech. Sarah Sanders spoke sense into the madness:
“The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional. The First Amendment is not served when a single reporter, of more than 150 present, attempts to monopolize the floor. If there is no check on this type of behavior it impedes the ability of the President, the White House staff, and members of the media to conduct business.”
Exactly.
Going forward, how about just never again call on Acosta? Or, as Trump suggested, throw him out (here). Or give him his own TV show. Or lure him into another room with cheese or shiny toys. Enough is enough. Whatever works, man. Whatever works.
Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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The post The Acosta Effect: Trumps Suggests Turning Off the Camera During Press Conferences appeared first on RedState.