President Donald Trump’s decision to eject some of his favorite targets in the “lamestream media” from the White House prompted strong reactions across the political and news worlds last week.
By Thursday, the uproar had been nearly drowned out by the sound of champagne corks popping in left-leaning newsrooms. A federal judge had ordered the White House to temporarily restore press access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico who had been barred from the building.
Now that the initial commotion has faded, however, America — and the news media itself — should confront the uncomfortable conclusion: Once again, Trump may have succeeded in making everyone chase the wrong story.
Since the beginning of the MAGA era, Trump has repeatedly turned distraction into a political weapon, drawing reporters toward short-lived controversies while the larger strategic picture slips from view.
Trump did not create that playbook, but he has refined it with remarkable skill.
The expression “wag the dog” entered the modern political vocabulary through the 1997 film of the same name. The movie centered on a Washington spin doctor who invents a war in Albania to divert attention from a presidential sex scandal. When President Bill Clinton faced accusations that military action had been ordered to shift focus away from the growing Monica Lewinsky scandal, the phrase became a lasting part of American political shorthand.
I previously worked as a Fox News anchor and still maintain relationships with friends and sources at the network’s Manhattan headquarters. They told me there was quiet amusement inside Fox when Trump announced on Friday, apparently without warning, that he was banning outlets he accused of publishing “fiction and lies.”
Melissa Francis, who previously anchored at Fox News, says she still has friends and sources at the network’s Manhattan headquarters
President Donald Trump’s escalating conflict with the news media drew passionate reactions from all sides
At least one Fox News veteran I contacted understood the difficult position the network had been placed in.
No news organization — including Fox News — can reasonably accept a president targeting fellow journalists and remain confident that it will never face similar treatment.
He understands how quickly the network could find itself in the crosshairs.
The precedent dates back to October 2009, when President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department attempted to leave Fox News out of interviews with Kenneth Feinberg, the official overseeing the distribution of relief funds after the 2008 financial crisis.
ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, the other television networks covering the White House, refused to participate unless Fox was invited as well. Treasury reversed course within hours, allowing Fox to join the interviews.
That history helps explain why Fox News, after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were singled out, had little choice but to stand with them and decline coverage of Trump’s event.
Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer expressed the position on social media: “I agree with POTUS that several media outlets covering the WH are biased and unfair… Banning them from the WH is not the solution… Challenge liberal reporters. Argue and defeat them. Don’t ban them. Or one day they’ll ban us.”
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Bill Clinton faced accusations that US military strikes were intended to divert attention from the intensifying Monica Lewinsky scandal
Author Melissa Francis
Fox News anchor Jacqui Heinrich, who serves as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, also weighed in: “The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference.”
Many Fox News viewers, unsurprisingly, were unmoved by the brief show of media solidarity. Still angry over the cancellation of Trump ally Maria Bartiromo’s program, some saw hypocrisy in the network’s stance. One viewer wrote on X: “Fox News pulled out of the White House Press Pool in solidarity with CNN, MSNOW and Politico which were banned from the White House. This is the same Fox News who just fired Maria Bartiromo for trying to report the news.”
But few seem to notice the brilliance of Trump’s ‘briar patch moment,’ tricking the media into thinking they had the upper hand when they were just playing into his.
United, the media denied Trump all coverage – refusing to cover his arrivals and departures – at the exact moment he didn’t want their questions anyway.
What was the biggest news story this week?
A United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City during which Trump defended waging of an unpopular war against Iran, even as his party faces down devastation in the midterms, less than 40 days away.
Instead of reporters pummeling Trump on the things Americans actually care about – namely soaring prices at the pump – the media willingly kept their distance, voluntarily giving him the space he desperately needs.
Fox News viewers, of course, couldn’t care less and almost choked on this temporary solidarity. Still chafing from the cancelation of Trump ally Maria Bartiromo’s show, they saw a pattern (Pictured: Bartiromo interviewing Trump on April 14)
And if you need receipts, just look at how the administration used the opportunity to push its own news platform (crossing their fingers that at least some Americans will turn off cable news forever).
‘Get real-time updates and live events streamed DIRECTLY to your phone. No noise. Just the news that matters most – straight from the Trump Administration,’ the White House posted on X.
Of course, if you are really cynical, you might be tempted to believe that it’s not just Trump playing this game. He wasn’t the only winner.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico all got the opportunity to shout their righteous indignation about an assault on freedom of the press.
The only loser seems to be Fox News, which was forced into the awkward position of defending the very networks it often criticizes as bogus, making the channel look a bit weak.
Somewhere, Maria Bartiromo is laughing.