Politico’s chief correspondent in Washington, Ryan Lizza, defined himself in President Trump’s briefing room as a furious competitor for Rudest Journalist. He asked Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, “Does President Trump think it was a good thing that the South lost the Civil War?” And when the official coronavirus death toll hit 100,000, he asked them, “How does the White House view the number of American dead that you can say you have successfully overcome this pandemic?”
So it was fascinating when Lizza was abused on Twitter for observing “discouraging signs of the Biden team and previous press access”. At Politico, he wrote: “Beat reporters who report on Biden tell me that the basement strategy of the 2020 campaign continued into the transition. The press is kept in the dark about what exactly the president-elect does for most of the day, beyond vague descriptions of “internal meetings.” “
Should we fake a shocked face? This underscores what any conservative, liberal, and squishy centrist should have known: Biden and his staff want to restrict access to the press to exactly the extent that his constituents (including all of his constituents in the press corps) allow.
This gets downright weird when a certain level of access is given, like his November 10th briefing. As Lizza noted, “a press secretary controlled who could ask questions that were limited to five points of sale.” There was no Acosta-like glitch from Fox News.
Instead, admire NBC’s Mauler Mike Memoli: “I wonder if you have a message for the president who is watching and how you expect to work with Republicans when so many have refused to win at all.” to recognize? “
And this CNN gladiator Jeff Zeleny: “Have you spoken to your long-time Senate friend, Mr. McConnell? And what do you think of his specific comments over the past 24 hours? “
As for ABC karate kicker Mary Bruce, “How will you get on if the president continues to refuse to admit?”
Could Biden handle the angry fists of Josh Jamerson of the Wall Street Journal? “Are you going to vote with Speaker Pelosi on how to deal with Republicans during the lame duck?”
And finally came the final blows from a local assassin, Meredith Newman of the Wilmington News Journal: “What do you say to Americans who are concerned that President Trump has not yet conceded and what this could mean for the country?”
Oh, and if that punitive blow wasn’t enough, there was more: “How do you expect to work with Republicans if they don’t even recognize you as president-elect?”
They played clips of these marshmallows on Fox & Friends, and media reporter Joe Concha joked about the Fox shutdown. “Biden avoids Peter Doocy the way Harrison Ford avoided Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive.” Concha slammed the press for obsession with Trump. If this man is the new president, why shouldn’t he treat him like that?
What makes this charade even funnier is the reminder of how outraged the “objective” press was when Donald Trump passed questions to journalists who supported Trump. Now, none of them have uttered the slightest whisper about the expulsion of anyone who would dare ask Biden a question about … Biden.
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