DC Whispers
Could Acosta Be Banned Permanently From White House Press Events?
CNN’s senior reporter Jim Acosta, like an entitled child not getting the attention he feels he deserves, constantly interrupts the president and press secretary Sarah Sanders. Acosta may no longer have the chance to be the outwardly rude and obnoxious reporter that both President Trump and Sarah Sanders have done their best to TOLERATE over the last 18 months.
Jim Acosta is well known for his interrupting of both Sanders and President Trump and although they’ve both tolerated his outbursts, if things continue in the same fashion they have with Acosta’s lack of timing and disregard for others at press events, he may find himself banned from future press events all together.
When looking for incidents where Acosta interrupted the president on YouTube, when the name Jim Acosta is typed in, predictive search results give you options like: “Jim Acosta interrupts”, “Jim Acosta owned”, and Jim Acosta “fake news.” It’s no secret Acosta’s modus operandi is to continually annoy and disrespect the press secretary and President Trump himself at every possible chance he gets to be in front of either of them.
When Acosta interrupted the historic summit with President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Acosta was not only representing the American press, but Americans in general–and his actions were embarrassing, to say the least.
The issue lies with respect for others. Jim Acosta appears to be lacking in understanding what respect means, and proves this by his actions. Acosta has demanded dignity and respect for journalists who cover the White House, but does not show the same respect he’s seeking for anyone at press events concerning the White House.
His lack of professionalism may just be his downfall.
One of CNN’s White House correspondents, Kaitlan Collins was booted from an Oval Office press event last week with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, after screaming six questions AT the president. Although Collins was asked several times to leave, she refused to do so.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders issued the following statement on the incident, “At the conclusion of a press event in the Oval Office a reporter shouted questions and refused to leave despite repeatedly being asked to do so.” Sanders continued, “Subsequently, our staff informed her she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but made clear that any other journalist from her network could attend.”
When President Trump and his staff barred Collins from attending a separate press event later in the day in the Rose Garden, Acosta, perhaps feeling threatened over his own position within the press took to Twitter to voice his frustrations with the Trump administration’s actions:
The press overall essentially lost their minds and several publications presented stories about how unfair it was that Collins had been denied access to the next event, which is odd, considering when former President Obama had a reporter removed for interrupting him in what he called “his house”, the press claps and begins chanting Obama’s name while the reporter was removed for yelling “NO MORE DEPORTATIONS.”
When this journalist was removed due to their heckling of former President Obama, Wolf Blitzer and CNN called it an ugly incident, and one that Obama “handled well.”
At this point, no one is surprised by the hypocrisy the left continues to dish out. What was considered acceptable by Obama, is condemned when President Trump does the same thing.
In 2012, Politico referred to interrupting the president as a “surprising breach of etiquette” and later the reporter with Daily Caller was encouraged to apologize to then President Obama, which eventually came to pass.
Vice President Pence defended White House’s decision to bar Collins from the Rose Garden press event during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo saying, “This administration believes in the freedom of the press, and President Trump and I and our entire administration have provided extraordinary access to the media. The president answers to many questions in so many different settings, and I can assure you that we’ll continue to do that. But maintaining the decorum that is due at the White House I think is an issue that we’re continuing to work for.”
Collins, Acosta and other reporters don’t seem to understand that there are consequences to your actions. Another running theme that liberals can’t seem to wrap their mind around. Accountability.
The double standard becomes clearer everyday with what’s considered acceptable for anyone other than President Trump. It’s been proven time and time again that President Trump can say and do the same things that presidents before him did and where they’re applauded, rewarded, and cheered for their actions, when its coming from Trump, these same words and actions are automatically condemned.
Could Acosta be banned from all press events at the White House for good? Time will tell, but if he is, it would most certainly be considered an improvement.
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