Last Friday, President Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, rescheduled from the April dinner that was interrupted by a fanatical anti-Trump shooter.
On Monday's Morning Joe, they naturally joined in the ongoing assault on Trump's attacks on the media. Senior White House reporter Vaughn Hillyard used his time to insist Trump was attacking the highest “form of patriotism.”
His thesis? Trump just doesn’t understand journalism:
And I think Friday night, in so many ways, at the White House correspondents dinner, and it's more than an hour in which he served up a platter of evidence to back that up, that he doesn't understand the role of journalists: that journalism, in its form in the United States, is a form of patriotism.
MS NOW is digging up arguments from the Bush era: "dissent is the highest form of patriotism!" The media thinks Trump should stay silent while they spread slander and lies about his administration. Hypocritically, they think his dissent against them is "quashing patriotism." pic.twitter.com/KZtQAhqIDz
— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 27, 2026
Continuing with his line of argument, Hillyard claimed that any opposition towards the government was patriotic, simply by virtue of challenging authority:
You're talking about resistance and dissent, whether it be from the opposition party or from members of your own party. That is a form of patriotism. It is challenging the authority that exists, the current levers of power, whether it be in Washington or at the state or at a local level.
Hillyard’s statements were ironic, given that the media hates when authority is challenged if it’s authority they agree with. Another issue with this argument is that the “resistance” that he applauded is entirely one-sided. The media is entirely gung-ho with their resistance narrative when Trump is in power, but the moment a Democrat is in power, their “dissent” dissolves.
Finally, Hillyard comes to his conclusion:
But instead the president tries to quash that form of patriotism. And we have seen here, now, in this moment, I think it's important to understand that the president has people that are effectively trying to do that bidding for him in very aggressive ways.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks! The liberal media is once more rolling out the old ‘dissent is highest form of patriotism’ argument, reminiscent of their attacks against President Bush all the way back in the 2000s.
Hillyard argued that journalistic “resistance and dissent” were forms of patriotism, and therefore Trump’s opposition to it is anti-patriotic. The issue with his argument is this: there’s a distinct difference between holding someone accountable and attacking them at every turn regardless of the validity of the arguments.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to view.
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
July 27, 2026
06:50:37 a.m. Eastern
(...)
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Right, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, fails to see the different forms that patriotism comes in. And I think Friday night, in so many ways, at the White House correspondents dinner, and it's more than an hour in which he served up a platter of evidence to back that up, that he doesn't understand the role of journalists: that journalism, in its form in the United States, is a form of patriotism.
It's a group of people that are trying to hold power accountable and try to find out information, what's happening behind the scenes of government. Then you're talking about resistance and dissent, whether it be from the opposition party or from members of your own party. That is a form of patriotism. It is challenging the authority that exists, the current levers of power, whether it be in Washington or at the state or at a local level.
But instead the president tries to quash that form of patriotism. And we have seen here, now, in this moment, I think it's important to understand that the president has people that are effectively trying to do that bidding for him in very aggressive ways.
And when you look at our new reporting here and the ways in which there is a cognizance among some associates of his, that in order for Republicans to win these midterm elections, they need to separate themselves from Donald Trump, why is that?
It's because all of them also realize that the president of the United States is unwieldy, he is unfocused, and he is going to say whatever he wants to say. And at some point along the way, that they are the ones that could find themselves in the middle of that path and that destruction, unless they do his bidding.
And that is a reality, that patriotism is in a very tough place right now, because the president of the United States is telling the masses and telling young people in America that dissent and that journalism is not a form of patriotism.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: MS NOW senior White House reporter Vaughn Hillyard and historian Jon Meacham, thank you both very much for coming on this morning.
