Three scenes that explain the plot of the play. The first, a few days ago, took place on Air Force One, the presidential plane. During a briefing with those traveling with him, Donald Trump disliked a question about his Government's pressure on judges and wanted to know who was asking it. When the journalist explained that he worked at The Huffington Post, the president, annoyed, replied disdainfully and said he thought that medium was dead.
The second scene took place on Monday, at the press conference of Trump and Emmanuel Macron at the White House. The American gave the first turn to "Brian", who took the opportunity only to congratulate him and highlight that Trump "is a very successful man" and "has a lot of support according to the latest polls for his entire agenda, including ending the war in Ukraine."
The third scene, just a few hours later, was led by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. From the podium of the historic press room, Leavitt, satisfied, explained how they will unilaterally change the rules that have been in place for decades under all administrations for monitoring presidents and media access: "A group of Washington-based journalists has long dictated who can ask questions to the President of the United States. Not anymore. Today, I am proud to announce that we are returning power to the people," she announced.
The facts need context. "Brian," the White House's favorite journalist in this term, is Brian Glenn, a correspondent for Right Side Broadcasting and the boyfriend of Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, one of the most important and controversial figures in the MAGA world (Make America Great Again). His reports and questions are always laudatory, friendly, if not entirely enthusiastic. He now has privileged access, superior to those who have been doing that job for decades. With the change of government, the rules, procedures, and thousands of small opinion media, blogs, or conservative podcasts have a red carpet at the White House.
Meanwhile, after his question, Huffington Post journalist S. V. Dare has been removed this week from the so-called Pool that follows the president. The White House, in an unprecedented message, attacked him from official social media, saying: "You humiliated yourself with that ridiculous question, and President Trump ridiculed you." The same team expelled the Associated Press, one of the most important in the world, because in their news wires, they do not use the term "Gulf of America," but continue to refer to the "Gulf of Mexico." They have also similarly punished Reuters for showing solidarity with their colleagues.
"In a democracy, it is essential that the public has access to news about their government through a free and independent press. We believe that any government measure to limit the number of news agencies with access to the President jeopardizes that principle. It also hinders the dissemination of reliable information to people, communities, businesses, and global financial markets that rely heavily on our reports," criticized on Wednesday, in a joint statement, the directors of the three main agencies, the two mentioned and Bloomberg.
The war is total and is the umpteenth step of a president, and an administration, that hate, despise, and constantly attack the media. To the legacy media, as they derogatorily call them. Simultaneously saying they are irrelevant, bankrupt, unread, unheard, unseen, failures, and part of a left-wing conspiracy that hates the country. But that they have great power to manipulate and deceive, and pull the strings in the shadows. Or try to.
The situation may seem paradoxical because Trump attacks the media like no one in the history of the country and probably any democracy, constantly, without restraint. But at the same time, he is the most exposed president. He appears every day, one or more times, from the Oval Office, while signing executive orders, when receiving leaders, and almost always giving the floor without discrimination or prior control, unlike most governments.
He speaks in speeches, during trips, from his Florida residence. Not to mention the torrent of messages on social media. In his first weeks, he has given more interviews than Joe Biden throughout his term, although almost all have been to Fox News or friendly radios.
But it is all part of the same strategy. His predecessors reduced exposure; he multiplies it following the directives of Steve Bannon, the alt-right guru who was his close advisor in 2016, who insisted that success depended on pressure and this must take into account the "scale, depth, and urgency." Much, fast, thoroughly, and everywhere.
"Democrats don't matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit (...) The media can only—because they are stupid and lazy—focus on one thing at a time. And all we have to do is flood the zone. Every day we attack them with three things, they bite one, and we do everything we can. Bang, bang, bang. They will never, never recover," he said in a now-famous quote.
Trump's strategy has several pillars. The first, flood the zone, speaking all the time, announcing things non-stop, saying absurdities, mixing decisions with likes and dislikes, provoking the media to take the bait. Thus, they talk (we talk) about implausible ideas about Gaza or insults to Volodimir Zelenski, but not so much about how Elon Musk is gradually dismantling the federal government and regulators. About media criticism while Congress manages to pass a budget proposal that involves trillions of dollars in tax cuts and social spending cuts over the next decade.
The second objective, permanently delegitimize his critics, making hundreds of millions of people no longer believe anything, even if they see or hear it directly. Insulting with names and surnames non-stop. Third, limit the access of established media and give it to sympathetic media, which are not even media in the traditional sense of the word but small ideological platforms in most cases. And for that, the 'pool' is important.
For decades, the White House Correspondents' Association, made up of all those who regularly cover the institution's information, self-manages a group that rotates media and journalists who follow the president all the time. Who ask him questions whenever they can. And who also share with everyone else the information, from logistics to the content of statements, passing through context or details that are only appreciated in person.
The White House has decided to break the system so that it is also, and perhaps above all, these new right-wing media that can follow the president and ask questions or make comments. "This does not empower the people but the White House," criticized the Fox News correspondent, Trump's favorite network.
The fourth point involves subduing rivals. By attrition, reputation, or money. Trump has raised millions by suing social media platforms that blocked his accounts after the Capitol riot, and they are all paying, including X, from Elon Musk, who offers himself as the alternative information to those traditional media. But he has also sued and even reached out-of-court settlements with television networks for expressions used about him or even, in an unparalleled absurdity, for the type of editing of interviews with Kamala Harris.
Bezos Adjusts the Opinion of the 'Washington Post'
The pressure is real. The media readjust and yield. The best example was given this Wednesday by Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and the Washington Post, Musk's rival in the space race. In a message to the newsroom, the same owner who said he would never get involved in editorial decisions, has informed that the Opinion pages will undergo a historic change.
"We will write every day in defense and support of two pillars: personal freedoms and the free market. Of course, we will also address other topics, but views opposing those pillars will be published in other forums. There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, could have considered it a service to deliver to the reader's door every morning a broad-based opinion section that tried to cover all viewpoints. Today, that task is fulfilled by the internet," says the editor of the Watergate newspaper, whose motto remains that democracies die in darkness.