There’s no cognitive dissonance like the press being simultaneously vocally disdainful of Donald Trump while still demanding he show up at their events in the name of respecting free speech.

And if there’s cognitive dissonance to be found in the press, you can bet Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter is involved.

On Tuesday’s CNN Newsroom, host Brooke Burke lamented Trump’s decision to hold a rally rather than attend Saturday’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner (WHCD), saying that his spurning of an event that would surely see him as the butt of many mean-spirited jokes a slap in the face to the very concept of free speech.

“And it is no secret the President likes to insult the free press but now we’re learning the White House is actually telling the administration officials so boycott the dinner celebrating the First Amendment,”  Burke said, before bringing media analyst Stelter on to affirm her opinion.

With typical dramatic flair, Stelter did her one better and likened Trump’s non-attendance to an “attack.”

Just past the 2:39 p.m. Eastern mark, Baldwin brought on Stelter and again tried to argue that the Saturday event, where journalists hobnob with celebrities, fellow liberals, and each other, was about more than them: “[L]isten, you know, say what you will about the press, this is an event that honors the First Amendment.”

…

It was moments after this, that Stelter asserted that the White House pulling up stakes and moving on from the dinner was “another example” of “[t]his administration’s attack against the media” with “one form” being Trump “having a rally this Saturday instead of attending the dinner and I do think it matters mostly because what it means about these tensions continuing to escalate.”

This is a rich take considering the left-leaning press has been nearly apoplectic lately that anyone who offers any criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is “inciting violence” against her. Now, apparently, they believe incitement occurs when people simply choose to ignore them.

As far as many in the press are concerned, Trump’s guilty no matter what he does. But, if the ratings at CNN are any indication, viewers have tired of bending their minds to make that concept work.

Video of the exchange below.