Next election cycle already off to a real fun start as the White House suspends Jim Acosta's press pass
Good news for anyone who had “Fuck no, dumbshits” chosen in their office pool to predict whether the end of the 2018 election cycle might lead Donald Trump to back off on his verbal war with the American press: CNN is reporting that its reporter Jim Acosta has now been suspended from the White House press corps, after a testy back-and-forth with Trump during a press conference earlier today.
It was, really, a top tier Trump performance, as he spent his afternoon arguing with Acosta, poking at NBC’s Peter Alexander for defending his colleague, and accusing PBS Newshour reporter Yamiche Alcindor of asking a “racist question” about his stated love of nationalism. (You know he meant that one because he repeated the accusation three times, like Beetlejuice.) The White House is saying that it’s suspending Acosta, the network’s chief White House correspondent, for “placing hands” on the intern who tried to take the microphone away from him while he was questioning Trump. CNN and Acosta denied the accusations; here’s video of the moment, for those precious few of you still interested in baby-time bullshit like “objective truth”:
(Ah, “Pardon me ma’am,” the telltale warcry of well-trained guerrilla fighters everywhere.)
CNN has issued a message of full support for Acosta, unless of course, it’s lying, which we hear that it does, like, all the time. Our uncle’s friend’s cousin’s president swears its true.
Acosta’s suspension is the most high-profile banning any reporter has received from Trump’s correspondent pool to date; although reporters have been repeatedly barred from private events, press access to the White House itself is generally viewed as sacrosanct.