Lindsey Graham Lambastes WH Press Corps Ethics Less Than 24 Hours After Acosta Meltdown
Lindsey Graham 2.0, you are the gift that keeps on giving.
The South Carolina senator has made a legion of new conservative fans over the past few months, particularly for his blunt epigrams during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. My personal favorite, to a protester demanding that the Supreme Court nominee take a polygraph: “Why don’t we dunk him in the water and see if he floats?”
Graham 2.0 isn’t just Kavanaugh-centric, however. Now, he’s weighing in on the White House press corps.
As you no doubt have heard, CNN’s Jim Acosta had his “hard pass” taken away after a testy session with the president during a Wednesday press conference. Acosta had stopped asking questions and was merely giving a speech when he was asked to give the microphone up.
He refused, and an altercation with a female intern who tried to take the microphone away from him ended up with the White House sidelining Ted Baxter 2018.
The rest of the press conference was similarly contentious, mostly because the media loves attacking Donald Trump.
Graham wasn’t terribly thrilled with the whole scene, and he made that very clear on Twitter.
“It’s apparent to me the White House press corps lives in a bubble and the way they are conducting themselves today will do NOTHING to improve their standing with the American people,” he began.
It’s apparent to me the White House press corps lives in a bubble and the way they are conducting themselves today will do NOTHING to improve their standing with the American people.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 7, 2018
“Certain members of the press cannot stand the fact that President @realDonaldTrump and Republicans defied expectations in the midterm elections — actually growing our Senate majority,” the senator continued.
Certain members of the press cannot stand the fact that President @realDonaldTrump and Republicans defied expectations in the midterm elections – actually growing our Senate majority.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 7, 2018
And then he called the press out for being Democratic operatives.
“The mainstream press are not — in my opinion – ‘Enemies of the People’ but rather ‘Allies of the Democratic Party’ playing an activist role in support of their agenda,” Graham wrote.
The mainstream press are not — in my opinion – ‘Enemies of the People’ but rather ‘Allies of the Democratic Party’ playing an activist role in support of their agenda.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 7, 2018
The part about “enemy of the people” derives from Trump’s exchange with Acosta during the press conference where he used that phrase in reference to the CNN reporter.
Graham’s take on this whole debacle is arguably the best I’ve heard so far.
I’ve been watching presidential press briefings since I was in high school and Bill Clinton was president, because that’s the kind of dork that I am. There have been testy exchanges — one remembers the verbal tête-à-têtes between George W. Bush and Helen Thomas — but press conferences under Trump have turned into a spectacle of anger.
And yet, look at the president’s approval rating. Look at the “blue wave” that wasn’t. This is the bubble that the fourth estate lives in.
Jim Acosta isn’t a martyr. Open antagonism isn’t holding politicians accountable. And holding onto the microphone after your question is done isn’t freedom of the press. None of these things has ever been ethical, no matter who the president is.
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