Discussion: WH Argues President Has 'Broad Discretion' To Block Reporters, Including Acosta

In some other universe the entire press corps would unite in protest and refuse to attend future press briefings, en masse.

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Acosta is a “security threat.”

But not the kind who needs to be banned.

The security he threatens is the reason he has to be there.

Trump needs to lose this lawsuit. Bigly.

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I wonder if anyone told Trump that even Fox Noise is siding with CNN. Twitter explosion in 3 …2…1…

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It’s the kind of “threat to security” that, to borrow a line from Will Rogers, comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

And here is how many court cases the White House lawyers have found to support their argument:

0

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Pick your battles, but they don’t know how to not fight. This is a bad, bad, dumb choice.

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If it’s not on Fox and Friends or Hannity’s show, he won’t even notice. And I’m sure there’s an exciting car chase somewhere that Hannity needs to cover.

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Legally this brief is a looser, sort of like the guy it attempts to defend. The case law is overwhelming (including an on point DC Court of Appeals case that binds the district court) and the Judge should immediately grant an temporary injunction (to address the ongoing harm), while the case proceeds.

This said, the Judge was appointed by Trump, and is a federalist hack. Will be interesting if his hackdom overcomes the law, and if it does not, if Trump them attacks him…

Fun times.

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Although that may be what would happen in the regular universe. I think we now live in the alternate one.

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I find it chilling to read “It’s not illegal if the president does it” translated to what sounds like calm and reasoned legal language. (I mean, even if it’s utter tripe as a legal argument.)

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The filing added later: “Revoking a reporter’s hard pass for impeding the White House’s ability to conduct fair and orderly press conferences is not ‘arbitrary.’”

WH please define fair and orderly.

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Benito Mussolini was kind of orange in color too!

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“fair and orderly”: everything the Trump Administration does, except, like, totally the opposite of that

found it in the dictionary

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Acosta’s banishment is a higher honor than winning the Medal of Freedom this year.

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Yes, unless you worship Emperor Trump and ask only soft questions you are not welcome at the White House. Maybe iths something to do with the damage to his heels that caused him to be excused from military service. The first amendment means nothing to him. In the end, Trump will mean nothing to the electorate.

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If they can deny access to any journalist they like, then they can admit only pro-Trump reporters, resulting in a de facto state-run press.

Just like in Russia.

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I understand the “fun times”, but I don’t find it fun at all. I would characterize it as frightening times. We are not nearly far enough away from a dictatorship now. And, I have to keep remembering that Trump does whatever Putin wants, and Putin primarily wants the USA to be weakened.

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It will be interesting to see if the lifetime appointment overcomes hackdom. That’s what the founders thought. “We’ll see what happens,”

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Which is where they found their new set of gonads.
With their “Boys” on the appeals and Supreme courts , they rationalize , things will go their way

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No doubt – and fair to whom?

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