“The Fake News Media,” said Donald Trump in 2018, is “the true Enemy of the People.”

He was right. The lies of the Leftmedia undermine Liberty at every turn. This country would look far different if the legacy media would report what happens accurately and fully instead of serving as propagandists for the Democrat Party.

Trump’s comment came to mind when news broke that his administration had told the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) to take a hike — that Team Trump would determine which media outlets were allowed “pool” access to the White House and Air Force One to cover the president. “For decades, a group of DC-based journalists … has long decided which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these intimate settings. Not anymore,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not,” she added. “But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.”

The press took this about as well as federal staffers responding to that DOGE email.

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” grumbled WHCA President Eugene Daniels. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

That’s a great point. An adversarial press is a hallmark of a free country. Remember, Thomas Jefferson even complained that “newspapers … serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke” because they were free to say even untrue things about him.

Yet I have a question for Mr. Daniels: Why is it that Democrat presidents never face that adversarial press? No, they don’t technically “choose” the journalists covering the president, but they don’t have to. The vast majority of reporters at Leftmedia outlets are Democrat voters and donors who favor Democrat politicians in their coverage.

They’re the same deceptive hacks who award themselves Pulitzer Prizes for lying about the Russian collusion hoax. They’re the same partisan players who pretended Joe Biden was as sharp as a tack until it became undeniable that he was actually as sharp as a marble. They’re the same left-wing activists who will overturn reality itself by referring to a man with female pronouns and names just because he likes wearing a dress and visiting the women’s restroom.

And then they claim Arbiter of Truth™ status from which they can “fact-check” the rest of us for saying actually true things.

Like so many Americans, Trump is tired of the charade. He recently booted the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One because it continues deadnaming the Gulf of America. Heaven forbid the AP use pronouns that conflict with someone’s gender delusions, but it refuses to use Trump’s new name for the body of water that abuts our southern coast.

“While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment,” said White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, “it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One.”

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden sort of sided with the administration, at least until a full hearing on March 20 in which the AP may prevail. The broader WHCA move is Trump’s gambit to win either way. If he can’t exclude the AP, he can at least choose not to include the outlet.

Yes, Trump is abandoning the moral high ground here, engaging in precisely the kind of targeted viewpoint discrimination that Democrats specialize in and that has so infuriated conservatives for years. But Trump has never cared about the moral high ground if it meant losing on it. He’d rather win today and worry about tomorrow when it comes. He also has a knack for choosing opponents who deserve no sympathy.

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