As our Ward Clark reported Friday, Donald Trump is fed up with the fake news mainstream media, and he took action by announcing that CNN, Politico, and MS NOW are no longer welcome to attend White House Press briefings or Oval Office Q&As.
The president roasted the outlets on social media, saying they’re less trustworthy than Pinocchio and routinely inject immense bias into their stories. “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” he wrote.
Expect lawsuits and First Amendment arguments and plenty of hyperventilating drama from those outlets; they’re simply not used to facing consequences (except for the occasional legal settlement) for playing fast and loose with the facts.
As you’d expect, CNN’s feelings are hurt over Trump’s declaration, and they quickly put out a high-minded statement defending their incredibly brave, heroic reporters and pundits:
CNN Statement on White House access: pic.twitter.com/X0rMWFfueA
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 18, 2026
They laughably describe their reporters as “fair and accurate” in the post:
CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.
We all know that’s a load of hooey, and I’m sure for many readers, several recollections of embarrassing CNN failures immediately came to mind. The outlet may have wished they hadn’t poked the bear, however, because Team Trump quickly reacted with a staggering list of their mistakes, deceptions, and outright dereliction of duty.
I admit, even as someone who follows this stuff closely, my jaw fell to the ground. There are so many examples that I’d started to forget some of them:
https://t.co/h78fUx200J pic.twitter.com/20CHMpdTw3
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 18, 2026
If I wrote up every one, I’d be at my keyboard for days, but even amidst that epic record of failure, a few incidents stand out as exceptionally egregious. Perhaps the most famous is the 2020 “mostly peaceful" riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which followed the shooting of a suspect named Jacob Blake who resisted arrest when police were investigating a domestic call. The conflagration came in August during the summer of the George Floyd riots that rocked the country:
You cannot make this up... A CNN reporter is standing in front of a building engulfed in flames and CNN's chyron reads:
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) August 27, 2020
"FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING" pic.twitter.com/4OHvKnh63u
The mostly peaceful violence led to an estimated $50 million in damage in Kenosha, and teenager Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, two of them fatally, in an act that was later determined to be self-defense.
The Summer of Love’s mostly peaceful yet somehow riots led to an estimated $2 billion in damage and 31 deaths when all was said and done.
There are so many other false narratives the network pushed that it’s hard to process, but the other falsehoods that jump out at me are the 2019 Nick Sandman/Covington Catholic kids BS white supremacy allegations, the laughable Jussie Smollett fake claim of assault by racist MAGA dudes (also in 2019), which CNN bought hook, line, and sinker, and more recently, the network’s endless efforts to convince us that Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack” despite mounds of evidence proving otherwise. Even worse, anchor Jake Tapper, a top media leader of the Great American Cover-Up, then did an about-face by writing a book that pretended he was part of the solution. Absolutely no shame in that guy.
Don’t get me started on their COVID coverage, where they endlessly cheered on the Draconian Biden-Fauci regime, or I might explode in rage.
Who knows if Trump will follow through with his threat or if it will even withstand legal challenges, but this embarrassing list should be tacked to the wall of every newsroom, courthouse, and college classroom in the country.
As we like to say around these parts, “You can't hate the media enough.”
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