All of a sudden, what President Obama did over and over again while in office is considered “treason” if President Trump does it.
On Thursday’s The View, an upset Joy Behar ranted that Trump barring U.S. press from a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday was tantamount to “treason” and should upset every American:
BEHAR: He is speaking to the Russian foreign minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak. He is the guy who Michael Flynn got fired for, talking to him. Possibly talking about sanctions. And in the room, there is Trump talking to these Russians, and guess who -- the Russian press is there covering it. Guess who is missing from that room? The American press is not allowed.
HOSTIN: They were barred.
BEHAR: They were barred from the room. OK? All I'm saying in this lengthy speech that I hate to give, this is treason to me. This is un-American. Unpatriotic. Americans should be furious. Furious. This is the American press being left out-- It hurts my feelings frankly.
While Sarah Huckabee Sanders explained in today's briefing, that it was normal for a visiting foreign minister to have an official photographer in the room (and that the White House's official photographer was also in the room), Behar's rant seemed solely centered on the idea that the American press wasn’t allowed in the room. Perhaps Behar failed to realize that our former president also barred the American press from meetings and not just in an isolated incidence but as routine.
Even the liberal media noted the press’s anger at being excluded from private meetings in the Oval Office during the Obama years.
The Huffington Post wrote in 2014, “Obama Shuts Out White House Reporters Yet Again”:
The press corps has rallied together in recent months to protest restrictions on White House access, but despite their demands they continue to be locked out of major events in and out of the Oval Office.
Huff Po also noted that the WH Correspondents Association filed a formal complaint against the White House because they had been barred from attending so many meetings.
In 2013, reporters repeatedly complained about restricted access to take photos of Obama in his meetings, even using press conferences to call out the administration as “Orwellian” and akin to the “Soviet Union.” NBC’s Chuck Todd even claiming that Obama “set a new precedent” by limiting press access.
Not to mention President Obama’s open war with Fox News, an outlet which he attacked frequently and refused to call on at press briefings.
Yet Behar doesn’t seem to remember any of that in her diatribe against Trump. Once again, the left’s short-term memory kicks in as they accuse Trump of doing “unprecedented” things that have actually been done many times before by prior presidents.
But hyperbole and extreme reactions to anything Trump does is routine on The View.
