Just a reminder: CNN is straight up lying to you if any of their more prominent figures ever say they don't want to be the story because everything is about them. And Thursday’s White House Press Briefing perfectly illustrated that as chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta lost his mind when Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t fall into a trap he had laid for her.
The latest rumble at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue began with Acosta noticed how Sanders “did not say that the press is not the enemy of the people” when she listed off a few examples of media bias (more on those later).
“And I think it would be a good thing if you were to say right here at this briefing that the press, the people who are gathered in this room right now, doing their jobs every day, asking questions of officials like the ones you brought forward earlier, are not the enemy of the people. I think we — we deserve that,” Acosta triumphantly asserted.
Sanders began to answer, but CNN’s Captain America insisted he interrupt (click “expand” for more):
HUCKABEE SANDERS: If the President has made his position known, I also think it's ironic —
ACOSTA: Would you — would you mind telling us —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I'm trying to answer your question.
ACOSTA: Okay. Well —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I politely waited and I even called on you despite the fact that you interrupted me when I calling [sic] on your colleague.
ACOSTA: Well, you were attacking our news organization, [REPORTERS GROAN] which is why I interrupted.
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I’m trying.
ACOSTA: But if you — if you finish, if you would not mind letting me have a follow-up, that would be fine but —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: It’s ironic, Jim, that not only you and the media attack the President for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country repeatedly.
Sanders promptly took him to the cleaners by correctly pointing out that the liberal media frequently stoop “to personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger” with examples including personal attacks against Sanders such as claiming that she “should be harassed as a life sentence, that I should be choked, I.C.E. officials are not welcomed and personal information is shared on the internet.”
Sanders continued as reporters groaned and Brian Karem could be heard screeching from the back of the room (again, click “expand” for more):
When I was hosted by the Correspondent's Association, of which almost all of you are members of, you brought a comedian up to attack my appearance and called me a traitor to my own gender. [REPORTERS GROAN] In fact, as I know — as far as I know, I am the first press secretary in the history of the United States that’s required Secret Service protection. [BRIAN KAREM SHOUTING — ACOSTA GESTURES HIM TO STOP] The media ratchets up the verbal assault against the President and everyone in this administration and certainly we have a role to play, but the media has a role to play for the discourse in this country as well.
Acosta angrily responded by demanding his fellow reporters stop talking so he could continue his tirade. He reiterated that he didn’t hear Sanders state the journalists are not the enemy of the people and offered more spin by downplaying the threats against Sanders’s life as an example of how “we all get put through the ringer, we all get put in the meat grinder in this town, and you’re no exception.”
The back-and-forth concluded with more of the same before Acosta’s colleagues soldiered on with more professionalism than Acosta could ever show:
ACOSTA: But for the sake of this room, the people who are in this room, this democracy, this country, all of the people around the world are watching what you are saying, Sarah, and the White House for the United States of America, the President of the United States should not refer to us as the enemy of the people. His own daughter acknowledges that and all I'm asking you to do, Sarah, is to acknowledge that right now and right here.
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I – I appreciate your passion. I share it. I’ve addressed this question. I’ve addressed my personal feelings. I am here to speak on behalf of the President. He has made his comments clear.
This exchange was set off by one Sanders had earlier with NPR’s Sarah McCammon in which she wondered that Trump made of daughter Ivanka’s statement that the media are not the enemy of the people.
Sanders promptly nuked that questions, citing the most recent network Trump study by Rich Noyes that “90 percent of the coverage on him is negative despite the fact that the economy is booming, ISIS is on the run, and American leadership is being reasserted around the world.”
To be clear, our study only examined the evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Sanders also called out CNN’s Jeff Zeleny for falsely asserting that the President hasn't been taking questions even though Zeleny himself was present for the President’s joint press conference on Monday with the Prime Minister of Italy.
To see the relevant transcript from August 2's White House Press Briefing, click “expand.”
White House Press Briefing
August 2, 2018
1:49 p.m. Eastern
SARAH MCCAMMON: Ivanka Trump made two statements this morning that are odds with positions of her father. She said the media are why are not the enemy of the people and also called family separation at the border a low point. What does the President think of those statements?
(....)
MCCAMMON: And on the press being the enemy of the people or not?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: The President is rightfully frustrated. 90 percent of the coverage on him is negative despite the fact that the economy is booming, ISIS is on the run, and American leadership is being reasserted around the world. Just this week, the media refused to cover his remarks in Florida highlighting effort on workforce development. In fact, the pooler for the press said there was no news made despite the fact the governor of the state joined with dozens of business across the state of Florida to announce thousands of new jobs. That may not be news in Washington, D.C. But I can assure you it's news in the state of Florida that people that didn't have a job before this President took office have a better opportunity and an opportunity to move forward. That's actually real news and something that people in the state of Florida and across this country appreciate and that was totally ignored. Not only that before, a journalist on CNN claimed that the President hadn't taken questions in over a week despite the fact that same journalist in a live shot from the two and two press conference that the President had with the Prime Minister of Italy just moments after making that accusation. With this sort of misinformation and lack of interest that’s so pervasive in the media, it’s completely understandable for the president to be frustrated.
(....)
JIM ACOSTA: I wanted to follow up on Sarah's question from NPR. She asked you about Ivanka Trump's statement that the press is not the enemy of the people, and she asked you whether or not the press is the enemy of the people. You read off a laundry list of your concerns about the press and things that you feel like are misreported, but you did not say that the press is not the enemy of the people and I think it would be a good thing if you were to say right here at this briefing that the press, the people who are gathered in this room right now, doing their jobs every day, asking questions of officials like the ones you brought forward earlier, are not the enemy of the people. I think we — we deserve that.
HUCKABEE SANDERS: If the President has made his position known, I also think it's ironic —
ACOSTA: Would you — would you mind telling us —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I'm trying to answer your question.
ACOSTA: Okay. Well —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I politely waited and I even called on you despite the fact that you interrupted me when I calling [sic] on your colleague.
ACOSTA: Well, you were attacking our news organization, [REPORTERS GROAN] which is why I interrupted.
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I’m trying.
ACOSTA: But if you — if you finish, if you would not mind letting me have a follow-up, that would be fine but —
HUCKABEE SANDERS: It’s ironic, Jim, that not only you and the media attack the President for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country repeatedly. Repeatedly, the media resorts to personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger. The media has attacked me personally on a number of occasions, including your own network. Said I should be harassed as a life sentence, that I should be choked. I.C.E. Officials are not welcomed and personal information is shared on the internet. When I was hosted by the Correspondent's Association, of which almost all of you are members of, you brought a comedian up to attack my appearance and called me a traitor to my own gender. [REPORTERS GROAN] In fact, as I know — as far as I know, I am the first press secretary in the history of the United States that’s required Secret Service protection. [BRIAN KAREM SHOUTING — ACOSTA GESTURES HIM TO STOP] The media ratchets up the verbal assault against the President and everyone in this administration and certainly we have a role to play, but the media has a role to play for the discourse in this country as well.
ACOSTA: And, Sarah, if you don’t mind — hold on — if I may follow up, excuse me, you did not say in the course of those remarks that you just made that the press is not the enemy of the people. Are we to take it from what you just said, we all get put through the ringer, we all get put in the meat grinder in this town, and you’re no exception and I am sorry that happened to you. I wish that had not happened. But for the sake of this room, the people who are in this room, this democracy, this country, all of the people around the world are watching what you are saying, Sarah, and the White House for the United States of America, the President of the United States should not refer to us as the enemy of the people. His own daughter acknowledges that and all I'm asking you to do, Sarah, is to acknowledge that right now and right here.
HUCKABEE SANDERS: I – I appreciate your passion. I share it. I’ve addressed this question. I’ve addressed my personal feelings. I am here to speak on behalf of the President. He has made his comments clear.
