The President Versus the Press

President Donald Trump’s latest assault on the news media came on Friday afternoon when he decreed on Truth Social that Politico, MS NOW, and CNN are now banned from the White House. Talking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said, “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories.”

What a bizarre thing to say. Our country has tolerated the press writing “negative stories” more or less since its founding. It’s a freedom enshrined in our First Amendment. One might expect the president, who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, to respect that.