Make no mistake, Donald Trump is extremely petty. When he decides that he doesn’t like someone or no longer has use for them, he not only casts them aside—he wages war. You’d think he’d have better things to do like run the nation or get aid to the people of Puerto Rico or work on building relationships across the globe with our allies. But, nah. He’s busy beefing with random people on Twitter and not inviting journalists to the White House holiday party.
First, it was veteran journalist April Ryan who didn’t get invited—marking the first time in 20 years. But apparently, Trump is also excluding gay journalists as well.
Chris Johnson, the White House reporter for the Washington Blade, which is the nation’s oldest LGBTQ paper, was also left off the invite list. Johnson views the White House’s petty snub as being “consistent with the policy of the administration to exclude LGBTQ people.”
Johnson emailed the White House to ask about it but “was bounced between spokespeople” and never received an explanation.
This isn’t much of a surprise. In June, the White House did not recognize Pride Month, which was the first time it hadn’t been declared by the president since 2009. And his Department of Justice seems to think that the Civil Rights Act does not extend to protecting Americans from being fired because of their sexual orientation. So, yeah, a snub to the LGBTQ community in the form of an non-invite to the White House holiday party isn’t a shocker.
It should be noted that White House seems determined to have a small crowd on hand this year, scheduling the media party for a weekday afternoon at 2 p.m. when most journalists, of course, are working.
Also, the Trumps will not pose for pictures with reporters, as previous administrations have done. Traditionally, the president and the first lady have stood for hours as a long line of reporters and their guests cued up for photos with them.
Let’s be crystal clear—this administration is completely unconcerned with having a decent relationship with the press. And while that’s not necessarily required of a president, it would be nice to have one who supports the First Amendment. How do we know that Trump doesn’t support a free press or freedom of speech? From his own words, of course.
“Frankly it’s disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants,” Trump stressed last month.
Since he’s so disgusted with them, maybe the press should try not writing about him at all. Let’s see how much he likes being in office with no media coverage whatsoever.