NEWS AND OPINION:
Be careful what you wish for. In the absence of regular press briefings, a pair of cable new networks have badgered the White House about access to President Trump for quite some time. But now silence? Here’s what happened a mere 72 hours ago, give or take a few minutes.
“CNN and MSNBC demanded White House briefings — then decided not to air them,” writes Steve Krakauer, a former CNN producer who has since become a media analyst, offering a daily column called Fourth Watch.
“For nearly a year, the media continually called out the Trump administration for refusing to hold a White House briefing. And they were correct — briefings are important for the public to get answers from their elected officials. When Stephanie Grisham, the feckless press secretary who never held a briefing in her near-year in the job, left and Kayleigh McEnany replaced her, the return of the briefing was promising. On Friday, McEnany held her third briefing in the past two weeks,” Mr. Krakauer notes.
“And CNN and MSNBC didn’t cover a second of it. It was a curious, pathetic display — after months of calls to restart the briefing, what possible reason would the media have to avoid airing it?” he asks.
The networks aired counter programming instead. CNN featured more “fear-mongering” about coronavirus lockdown restrictions while MSNBC offered an interview with actor Julie Andrews. Both networks continued to showcase New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic briefings.
Fox News, however, did air Ms. McEnany’s press briefing — and to the network’s benefit.
Mr. Krakauer points out that it was the “wrong decision” of CNN and MSNBC to omit the press event.
“With Fox News airing the briefing, it showed that, for 30 minutes on Friday afternoon, Fox was the only news channel on cable TV,” he says.
He has a point.
But it also underscores the reasons why Fox News has trounced CNN and MSNBC in the ratings — besting the two rivals non-stop for 18 consecutive years. Yes, that’s 18 years in a row. At the moment, Fox News enjoyed an average of 3.7 million nightly primetime viewers during the month of April, compared to 2 million for MSNBC and 1.3 million for CNN, according to Nielsen.
THE KAYLEIGH PRESS
So the journalists must now consider the aforementioned Kayleigh McEnany. According to early reports, she is deft at wrangling journalists. Here’s what the press says about her, as told in recent headlines from the last 48 hours:
“Kayleigh McEnany — the ’acceptable’ face of Trumpism who infuriates liberals” (the Guardian); “McEnany is off to a shameless start at Trump’s White House, but she’s better than nothing” (USA Today); Kayleigh McEnany calls out CNN for having guests who pushed Russia collusion” (Fox News); “A single Kayleigh McEnany quote gives away the game,” (Washington Post); and “Kayleigh McEnany: Michael Flynn revelations should be taken ’very seriously’” (New York Post).
CRITICIZE TRUMP, RINSE AND REPEAT
Much of the news media continues to bash President Trump, producing repetitive material that claims Mr. Trump is unraveling, rude, unpresidential or unhinged. The old “stole the election” narrative is still percolating as well. So if you think you’ve read the same anti-Trump column over and over again, you are not alone.
“Could the media please stop publishing the exact same Never Trump column over and over again? It is said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. In media, NeverTrumpism is writing the same column over and over and expecting the Orange Bad Man to disappear,” writes Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at the Federalist.
But there is greater political fallout to consider, outside of voter fatigue with all the Trump-bashing coverage.
“Publishing identical Never Trump columns about Trump unraveling month after month and year after year is yet another way to treat conservative Americans as second-class citizens. And failing to air and engage with the substantive arguments of tens of millions of people is also a form of election interference, albeit one engaged in by a wide variety of our media,” Ms. Hemingway notes.
GARCIA IN FOCUS
He has 1,400 hours of operational flight time in a an F-18 as a 20-year Navy fighter pilot with combat time in the Middle East. Now an executive with Raytheon, Mike Garcia has some 24 hours until a potentially life-changing experience in the political arena begins. He is running for Congress as the Republican nominee in the 25th District of California.
The special election pitting Mr. Garcia against state Assemblywoman Christy Smith, a Democrat, is Tuesday.
President Trump has endorsed Mr. Garcia, who now says he hopes to lead “a red shockwave” across the country by retaking the California seat for Republicans.
“If not me, who?” Mr. Garcia asks in his campaign message.
“I think people are realizing just how far this Democrat Party has gone, and the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the moderate in the room should scare the heck out of the entire country,” the candidate tells Breitbart News.
“There’s definitely a renaissance here in California. The implications of this in California are significant as well because it will be the first congressional seat we claw back in California for a Republican in 22 years. It’s not just a state thing, it’s not just a local thing, but it’s also a national level fight. All eyes are on this,” Mr. Garcia says.
POLL DU JOUR
• 83% of U.S. adults have confidence that the military will act in the best interest of the public; 92% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats agree.
• 83% overall have confidence that police officers will act in the public’s best interest; 87% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats agree.
• 63% overall have confidence that religious leaders will act in the public’s best interest; 77% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats agree.
• 48% overall have confidence that journalists will act in the public’s best interest; 23% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats agree.
• 37% overall have confidence that elected officials will act in the public’s best interest; 37% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats agree.
Source: A Pew Research Center poll of 10,139 U.S. adults conducted April 20-26 and released Friday.
• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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