Everyone appeared to have a strong opinion after President Donald Trump barred some of his favorite targets in the “lamestream media” from the White House last week.
By Thursday, it was difficult to separate the facts from the celebration in left-leaning newsrooms, after a federal judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore press access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico who had been banned from the premises.
Now that the commotion has subsided, it is time for America—and the media—to acknowledge the obvious: We have been played once again.
Since the rise of MAGA, Trump has mastered the art of creating distractions that send reporters chasing short-lived scandals while overlooking the larger story.
To be fair, Trump did not invent the tactic. He simply perfected it.
The phrase “wag the dog” became part of America’s political vocabulary through the 1997 film of the same name. The movie depicted a Washington spin doctor inventing a war in Albania to divert attention from a presidential sex scandal. When President Bill Clinton was accused of ordering US military strikes to shift focus away from the escalating Monica Lewinsky scandal, the phrase gained even greater political relevance.
I previously worked as an anchor for Fox News and still have friends and sources inside the network’s Manhattan headquarters. They tell me there were plenty of knowing smiles when Trump announced on Friday—apparently without warning—that he was banning outlets for reporting “fiction and lies.”
Melissa Francis (left), a former Fox News anchor, says she still has friends and sources inside the network’s Manhattan headquarters
The president’s clash with the media prompted strong reactions across the political spectrum
At least one Fox News veteran I spoke with immediately understood the difficult position facing the network.
No news organization—not even Fox News—could allow a president to target fellow journalists without consequence.
He understands how quickly his own network could become the next target.
In October 2009, President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department attempted to exclude Fox News from a series of interviews with Kenneth Feinberg, whom the administration had appointed to oversee the distribution of relief funds after the 2008 financial crisis.
The other television networks covering the White House—ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN—refused to participate unless Fox was included. Treasury reversed course within hours, and Fox took part in the interviews.
So when CNN, MS NOW and Politico were singled out, Fox News had little choice but to stand with them and decline coverage of Trump’s event.
Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer responded quickly on social media: “I agree with POTUS that several media outlets covering the WH are biased and unfair… Banning them from the WH is not the solution… Challenge liberal reporters. Argue and defeat them. Don’t ban them. Or one day they’ll ban us.”
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During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he was accused of ordering US military strikes to divert attention from the growing Monica Lewinsky scandal
Author Melissa Francis
Fox News anchor Jacqui Heinrich, who serves as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, wrote: “The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference.”
Fox News viewers, naturally, were unimpressed and nearly choked on this brief display of solidarity. Still angry over the cancellation of Trump ally Maria Bartiromo’s show, they saw a familiar pattern. “Fox News pulled out of the White House Press Pool in solidarity with CNN, MSNOW and Politico which were banned from the White House. This is the same Fox News who just fired Maria Bartiromo for trying to report the news,” one viewer wrote on X.
Few, however, appeared to recognize the effectiveness of Trump’s “briar patch moment”—a maneuver that made the media feel as though it had gained the upper hand while advancing his agenda instead.
By acting together, the media denied Trump coverage of his arrivals and departures at precisely the moment he had no interest in answering their questions.
So what was the week’s biggest story?
It was a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City, where Trump defended his decision to wage an unpopular war against Iran as his party confronted the prospect of heavy losses in the midterms, which were less than 40 days away.
Rather than pressing Trump on the issues Americans actually care about—including rising prices at the pump—the media willingly stepped back and gave him the breathing room he needed.
Fox News viewers were unimpressed by the temporary solidarity, particularly after the cancellation of Trump ally Maria Bartiromo’s show (Pictured: Bartiromo interviewing Trump on April 14)
The administration’s use of the moment to promote its own news platform offers further evidence. It appeared to be hoping that at least some Americans would eventually abandon cable news altogether.
“Get real-time updates and live events streamed DIRECTLY to your phone. No noise. Just the news that matters most – straight from the Trump Administration,” the White House posted on X.
Of course, the most cynical interpretation is that Trump was not the only one to benefit from the confrontation. He was not the only winner.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico gained a platform from which to express their outrage and condemn what they described as an attack on press freedom.
The apparent loser was Fox News, which found itself defending networks it routinely criticizes as unreliable, leaving the channel in an awkward—and somewhat weakened—position.
Somewhere, Maria Bartiromo is probably laughing.
