Wednesday, November 16, 2016

And the press goes crazy

One of the big news stories the past day is that Donald Trump had the audacity to go out to dinner without telling the press.



Apparently the press feels it has a first amendment right to know the President-elect's every action and follow him wherever he goes.

They also complain that he isn't giving them a "readout" of his calls with foreign leaders. I've read a number of "readouts" issued by the State Department or the White House. They're uniformly boring and provide little useful information. But apparently the press expects such things.



By odd coincidence, four years ago President-elect Barack Obama did the same thing. He visited Sea Life Park in Hawaii with his daughters after telling the press pool that "there would be no further events" that day. Yet the press didn't seem to feel this was a major threat to their ability to do their job.



While the travelling press pool claims it is a "vital service in a functioning democracy," insisting that the President-elect telegraph his every movement and action seems excessive.

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