President Donald Trump is to modern American politics what fictional Cobra Kai and Karate Kid character Johnny Lawrence is to Karate. He’s all about that strike first, strike hard, no mercy when it comes to the libs, who can’t stand him because he’s simply a badass.
Trump and his administration have proven this to be true on Monday by barring the Associated Press from attending a news conference between the president and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, despite a ruling last week from U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden that the White House violated the Constitution by preventing the publication from accessing press events.
“The Government offers no other plausible explanation for its treatment of the AP. The Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office,” McFadden stated in the order.
“McFadden ruled the White House must restore AP’s press access, but delayed the order for one week to allow the White House a chance to appeal. According to Bauder’s article, the order was set to take effect on Monday,” Fox News reported.
The AP also stated in its report that McFadden shot down the administration’s request to postpone the order last Friday.
The White House quickly filed an appeal and set up a hearing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit for Thursday over whether AP’s access can still be restricted while the case is reviewed. In the meantime, AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said in a statement that she expects access to be restored.
“Our journalists were blocked from the Oval Office today. We expect the White House to restore AP’s participation in the (White House press) pool as of today, as provided in the injunction order,” she explained.
The spat between President Trump and the AP started after he signed an executive order that renamed the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” which is a total boss move. Johnny Lawrence would pump his fist for that one.
The Associated Press then released a style guide that explained how the publication would refer to the body of water. You can probably guess what they chose. Gulf of Mexico.
“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the guidelines went on to say.
Trump then proverbially slapped the taste out of the mouth of the AP by blocking them from attending events at the White House and on Air Force One back in February after they refused to refer to the body of water as the “Gulf of Mexico.”
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