Reporters, prepare to be shushed. (Image Credit: Michael Vadon / Flickr)
“You are fake news,” President-elect Trump told CNN reporter Jim Acosta. He shushed Acosta several times, refusing to give him a question.
Welcome to Trump's first news conference as PEOTUS. It's been a staggering 167 days since he showed up for a press conference, which is incredible, considering Trump and his campaign called out Secretary Clinton 71 times during the campaign for her apparent shared aversion to taking questions from live reporters. I guess hypocrisy's only a thing when the other side does it.
Back to poor Jim Acosta. Trump was apparently punishing CNN for “publishing” unverified leaked documents that have made some wildly scandalous claims about Trump’s extracurricular time and political ties in Russia. Except, CNN didn’t publish anything. And also, it’s not really a custom for a president-elect to publicly excoriate a reporter because of the company he works for.
“Lyndsey Graham. I’ve been competing with him for a long time. He’s gonna crack that 1 percent barrier…” Trump went on. His sarcasm about the South Carolina senator didn’t quite land with the audience, so he gave the joke a rest.
The whole press conference had an element of the surreal, as if the closer Inauguration Day comes, the more Trump’s unprecedented approach seems only possible as a work of fantasy fiction, some imagined tale set in the dimension of Ludicrous.
“There’s nothing they could come back with,” Trump said, dismissing an intelligence report that is still possibly under FBI review. In said report, an unnamed source claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin has compromising information on Trump. How the president-elect knows more about whether or not Putin has consorted with members of his campaign, or spied on Trump, than professional American intel remains a mystery. (No, it probably doesn’t. I think ego is probably a good bet here.)
“Somebody’s leaking it out … Maybe it’s my office… I won’t tell anybody about my meeting with intelligence. Nobody knew,” went Trump, as he publicly critiqued the U.S. intelligence community. “Immediately the word got out that I had my meeting.” He raised his eyebrows, he waved his arms. Read between the moves: the intelligence community is leaking!
"If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.” The president-elect apparently fails to see that Putin “likes” Trump as a pawn to further Russia’s interests at the expense of Western democracy.
Obamacare will be “repealed and replaced.” Immediately. No one knows with what, but the “disaster” will be gone.
And finally, Trump repeated one of his many regular lines of braggadocio: “I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created.”
The whole press conference had an element of the surreal, as if the closer Inauguration Day comes, the more Trump’s unprecedented approach seems only possible as a work of fantasy fiction, some imagined tale set in the dimension of Ludicrous.
Will every story that Trump doesn’t approve of get the “fake news” label, its authors permanently blacklisted forever?
Will our intelligence community stand to be thrown under the bus on a national stage, all because Trump has an apparent man-crush on Vladimir Putin?
Will other sitting senators also be publicly mocked by the most powerful man in the world?
Perhaps most stressing, will President Trump continue to refer to himself in the 3rd person?
We’re all going to have to wait and see. But my best guesstimates are not hopeful on any count.
"You're fired." Trump ended the conference with his trademark Celebrity Apprentice catchphrase.
Ah, but if only it were that easy.
