It is the time of year where we are surrounded by treacly lessons of good cheer (if Hallmark movies are to believed, and frankly why the hell shouldn’t they?) We will be opening our hearts and extending our arms towards others, and coming together in the warmth of compassion with beatific smiles on our faces. The message of the season is that love prevails and the coldest of hearts are warmed like a hearth.

CNN takes those sentiments and crams them all in a toilet.

As the ongoing perpetual and petulant feud between the President and our nation’s most-trusted news source (ahem) continues word comes out that CNN intends to put the Scrooge to the administration. In an announcement made to Politico the news net declared they will actually boycott this year’s White House Christmas party.

“CNN will not be attending this year’s White House Christmas party,” a CNN spokesperson said. “In light of the President’s continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guests.”

While no one would defend the President’s behavior matching that of your basic privileged middle schooler, CNN seems incapable of rising above such antics. While Trump frequently is called out – justifiably – for being a thin-skinned adolescent there seems to be little in the way of introspection on the other side. CNN has hardly risen professionally above the Presidential snit-fit, choosing instead to approach this youth-driven holiday by acting like children themselves.

Just look at the way the media seems to be frothingly obsessed with the Presidential Twitter feed. Yes, Trump is an embarrassment and largely evoking the stream of consciousness of someone you would charitably describe as “imbalanced”. But the general public has learned to move on and stop concerning themselves with his daily cloud-shouting missives.

Not the press. Journalists lie in wait, assured that another delivery is imminent and they can once again rail about the ridiculousness of his messaging. What they fail to realize is their obsession reflects even more poorly on them and their profession. It is as if someone with a Masters in linguistics is busying themselves by scanning the bulletin board flyers in laundromats and shrieking about the typos. The Politico piece even breathlessly proves this out.

In describing the frayed relationship between Trump and CNN they mention a Tweet that Trump delivered last weekend that you surely overlooked. The network found it “especially galling” when the President criticised CNN International, for what he perceived as a poor global presentation of America, or some such blather. Politico delivers this oblivious layer of comedy:

Over the last two days, CNN has been regularly running segments about the tweet.

CNN has been trying to bolster its image in the face of Presidential attacks, and the supposed ever-threatening tide of Fake News, selling the audience on their insistence of “Facts First”. Sure, since nothing proves your seriousness and professionalism behind your craft as spending 2 full days and endless segments over a solitary Tweet. They mock the President for being hyper-sensitive, yet here they go into existential overdrive when he did nothing more than insult them.

In rather appropriate fashion White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to CNN’s holiday announcement — by sending out a Tweet:

So CNN will posture and preen, but they will not completely abandon the event. “We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants.” Nothing bolsters your message of defiance like hedging your bet and still attending, amid your announced “boycott”.

Just like all the other endless impotent protests we have had to witness this first year in office, this “brave” stance is ultimately nutless. Because the last thing you want to do when bravely taking a stand is let the competition have the inside lane at a possible scoop.