The media narcissist disgrace themselves in White House press conference

Michael Goodwin:

By producing a split decision, the election that was supposed to end all elections turned out to be fairly predictable. But it’s the day after that was unlike any other.

The Republican president, the likely speaker of the Democratic-controlled House and the Senate’s Republican majority leader each started Wednesday by talking about working together to get things done. They talked to each other privately and talked separately in public about what they thought they could accomplish for the country.

For most Americans, that would make for a very good day. Given the overheated environment leading up to the midterms and the fear among many that we are drifting toward an era of disunion and spreading political violence, bipartisan pledges to work together for the common good were like the sudden emergence of a bright candle flickering in the wind.

Alas, it was the last thing some members of the White House press corps wanted, so they tried to snuff it out.

The conduct of a handful of so-called reporters during President Trump’s news conference was disgraceful beyond measure. This is not journalism, this is narcissism.

Naturally, the boorish Jim Acosta of CNN was the instigator. As is his habit, Acosta doesn’t ask questions — he makes accusations and argues. Almost daily, he does it with the press secretary; Wednesday, he did it with the president.

“I want to challenge you,” Acosta began after Trump called on him. Trump realized he’d made a mistake, murmuring, “Here we go” and Acosta didn’t disappoint.

He insisted that despite the president’s use of the word “invasion,” the caravan of Central America migrants “is not an invasion.”

He adopted a lecturing, I-know-best tone to declare that “they’re hundreds and hundreds of miles away; that’s not an invasion.”

Trump’s response should not have been necessary: “Honestly, I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN.”

After more back-and-forth, he called Acosta “a rude, terrible person” and said “CNN should be ashamed of itself.”

That should have been enough — Acosta got the attention he wanted and got Trump’s goat, giving his network video it could make hay out of for days. Besides, there were scores of other reporters raising their hands to be called on.

But Acosta wouldn’t give up the microphone and kept talking over Trump, trying to lob another grenade.

The president, clearly angry now and stepping away from the podium as if he might bolt the room, pointed at him and said forcefully, “That’s enough, that’s enough. Put down the mic.”

Finally, Acosta sat down, then stood up to argue again, interrupting another reporter. That reporter, from NBC, praised Acosta and picked up the baton by making his own accusation disguised as a question. He mentioned Trump’s attacks on Democrats and “asked” the president: Why are “you are pitting Americans against one another?”

Trump, to his credit, actually answered in a substantive way, but that didn’t satisfy because the reporter didn’t really ask a question. He, too, just wanted to make an accusation and argue. On camera.

There was a time not long ago when young journalists were taught not to become the story. Apparently, many news organizations have flipped that lesson on its head.

But we are witnessing something more insidious here than media trash talk. Plain and simple, we are watching expressions of personal hatred.
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We saw many examples of Democrat hate throughout the recent campaign and it continues with their media cohorts.  These people have lost all perspective and seem ruled by their hate rather than by a search for the truth.  Acosta wound up losing his press pass as a result of his antics.  Some in the media have suggested a media boycott of the White House.  That would be a gift to the President and to the voters.