You've got to hand it to the liberal media — it never misses an opportunity to cry "fascism" when it comes to President Trump. The latest meltdown? The White House is making changes to the Correspondents Association's role in managing the press room. Once again, it’s the worst thing ever! An assault on democracy! The shredding of the Constitution! The coming of the apocalypse, etc., etc.
Give me a break.
What’s really happening is obvious: Trump’s team is simply reorganizing the seating chart, and the media outlets that have spent years attacking him are no longer getting the VIP treatment. The outrage! They’re throwing a tantrum like kids arguing over who gets to ride shotgun. But here's what these pearl-clutching journalists won't tell you: Trump is providing more access to the press than any president in modern history. The numbers don't lie, folks.
According to George Condon of National Journal, President Trump has responded to a staggering 1,009 questions from journalists during just the first month of his second term. That's not a typo — over ONE THOUSAND questions answered.
If that doesn’t sound like much, then here’s some context for you.
During the same period in his first term, Trump fielded 199 questions. Joe Biden managed a pathetic 141 questions in his first month. And the media's beloved Barack Obama? A measly 161 inquiries during his first 31 days in office in 2009.
So much for "restricting press access."
The reality is that Trump is engaging with the press at unprecedented levels — even outlets he considers "fake news."
Not only that, but his use of the Oval Office also adds to the transparency.
“He’s using the Oval Office. People stop when they see a president in the Oval Office talking on their television,” political scientist and author Martha Kumar told National Journal. “They want to know what he’s saying.”
Kumar, a professor emerita at Towson University in Maryland and an authoritative — if unofficial — record-keeper of presidential-press interaction data, noted that Trump more frequently phoned into friendly television programs at the start of his first term.
“He learned that that didn’t get him anything. He was just talking to the choir, and he needed to get to a broader public,” Kumar said.
What's really going on here is transparent: these decidedly anti-Trump outlets are furious that their perks and status are being challenged. After years of pushing false narratives against Trump, be it the Russian collusion narrative or that he’s a threat to democracy, why should the White House treat them as special when they aren’t reporting the news and instead pushing an agenda? But there’s delicious irony here because today, they're scrambling because Trump’s actions tell a completely different story from the narrative they are pushing.
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Despite their doomsday pronouncements about Trump, he is answering more press questions than any president in recent memory. While they claim he's creating "state media," he's engaging with the hostile reporters who twist his words daily.
This is Trump's media strategy in action — outmaneuver the critics by simply giving more access than they can handle. The numbers speak for themselves, and they completely undermine the tired narrative about press restrictions.
The fact is, Trump understands something his critics don't: in today's media environment, direct engagement wins. Why let hostile media control your message when you can speak directly to the American people?
So the next time you hear some talking head on CNN wailing about Trump's "war on the press," remember this: he answered 1,009 questions in a month. Actions speak louder than words, and Trump's actions reveal a president who isn't afraid of tough questions — unlike his predecessors.
