Politics Random, Random

[ti-amie]

White House press corps recoils at Trump’s threat to shake up briefing room
by Dominick Mastrangelo - 12/04/24 6:00 AM ET

Signals from President-elect Trump’s team that a shake-up of the White House press briefing room could be coming are roiling journalists preparing to cover his second term.

People close to Trump have said in recent days he should dramatically change who gets access to the president, suggesting podcasters, internet personalities and media deemed more friendly to him could replace outlets like the major television networks, The New York Times and The Washington Post in the room’s front rows.

Reporters covering The White House, in conversations with The Hill this week, described a feeling of annoyance, frustration and dread at such an idea.

Several reporters declined to comment on the record or requested anonymity to speak candidly about the possibility of a drastically changed press room and the likely kerfuffle it would spark.

“It would be a total mess,” one White House reporter told The Hill this week. “I would expect people would probably boycott the briefings, though that would put certain outlets in a tough spot deciding if they want to go along with what the Trump people are trying to pull.”

Traditionally, the first row of the James Brady Briefing Room has been occupied by the four major networks of NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox; The Associated Press; CNN; and Reuters.

Other larger outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, CBS News Radio, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bloomberg have seats in the second row, while some news organizations do not have formal seats in the room. The Hill has a seat in the fourth row.

During President Biden’s administration and Trump’s first term, seat assignments were reviewed and determined by a committee of four members of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) board.

But the White House communications office ultimately decides which reporters from which outlets receive standing credentials or short-term “day passes” to cover the president.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s pick to be White House press secretary for his second term, raised eyebrows among members of the Washington press corps with comments telegraphing she could take a sterner approach when dealing with press coverage and during briefings.

“We hope there will be decorum, certainly, and we will try to instill that,” she said during a recent Fox News appearance. “But we’re not shy of the hostile media.”

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, went a step further days later, saying during a podcast episode that the incoming president is considering “opening up the press room to a lot of these independent journalists.”

“If The New York Times has lied, they’ve been averse to everything, they’re functioning as the marketing arm to the Democrat Party … why not open it up to people who have larger viewerships, stronger followings?” he said.

When Leavitt was asked directly if she would bring “different voices into the press briefing room” and change rules for press briefings, she said, “We are looking at those options. And, ultimately, it’s about serving the American people and getting President Trump’s message across to them.”

Neither the WHCA nor its president, Eugene Daniels of Politico, responded to a request for comment on the suggested changes to the briefing room or how the board would respond to mainstream outlets losing their privileges in the West Wing.

Several reporters told The Hill they have not yet heard from the board about an updated seating chart for once Trump takes office.

“I’m sure the association is looking at all of its options, as are individual outlets — at least the smart ones — if and when the Trump administration disrupts the day-to-day logistics of covering the White House,” another veteran White House reporter told The Hill. “What they may discover, though, is friendly coverage quickly can turn into, ‘Why aren’t you keeping your promises?’ coverage.”

Trump and his aides showed a willingness to punish media outlets that covered him aggressively during his first term.

The White House yanked the credential of CNN’s then-chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta after he and Trump argued during a 2018 press conference.

Trump continues to ridicule CNN, he sued CBS News last month and has threatened to use the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on broadcast networks he says are unfair to him.

A source with the Trump transition told The Hill on Tuesday that no plans have been finalized regarding any potential changes to seating arrangements in the briefing room.

Some say if Trump’s aides make good on threats to turn the briefing room upside down, it will likely only cause more headaches for incoming West Wing staff.

“If they think they’re going to end White House reporting by throwing everyone out or clearing out the first three rows, good luck, because that’s not how that works,” said Julie Mason, a longtime White House correspondent who now hosts a popular political radio show.

“They would really beclown themselves if they put three rows of Gateway Pundit clones in the briefing room. This administration wants to be taken seriously … by doing this you make a joke of the briefing. It just makes the whole thing look ridiculous.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5020 ... fing-room/

[Suliso]

I wonder what would be the right way to cut expenses with a goal of zero deficit. Any thoughts?

[ponchi101]

The... military?
Some truly ridiculous foreign aid (China gets foreign aid)
Subsidies to: ethanol, copper, and plenty of others.
Cut the tax cuts to rich industries. Get some revenue coming in.
Tax Wall Street
Tax credits for EV's?

[mmmm8]

I wonder what would be the right way to cut expenses with a goal of zero deficit. Any thoughts?

- The Military
- I'd say, a more competitive bidding process for large-scale contractors (prisons, IT, healthcare administrators and suppliers, consultants, etc. in addition to ones under the military). It's only recently that Medicare has started negotiating more effectively for drug costs.
- I hate to say it, but I kind of agree with some cutbacks to NASA.Not to benefit SpaceX like Musk is doing it, but it makes sense to outsource to the private market SOME of the innovation that is costly and not time-sensitive when you don't have money to provide veterans' benefits or pay out social security.

[ashkor87]

There is no need to cut the deficit ...indeed, if you bring the deficit to 0, the economy will stop growing.

[Suliso]

That's not true, eventually you'll need to pay your bills..

[mmmm8]

That's not true, eventually you'll need to pay your bills..

The last time the US was debt-free was, I believe, 1835.

[Suliso]

Well, completely debt free is not happening that's for sure nor is it needed. However excessive debt and money printing leads to where Argentina is. That's an extreme example, but just to illustrate a point.

[ponchi101]

You have to service your debt.
And when your debt is in the trillions, servicing it becomes quite a chink of your budget. Sooner or later, that means less money for other programs, because you have to pay billions in interest on your debt.
So, as Suliso says. It is not that you can forget about it and let it grow with no control. It will eventually start showing up in your economy. It is just like when you are a person and your credit cards are maxed. It means something.

[ti-amie]

Elon Musk spent a quarter-billion dollars electing Trump, including financing mysterious 'RBG PAC'
The super PAC, which defended Trump on abortion, got its more than $20 million from the "Elon Musk Revocable Trust."

Dec. 5, 2024, 9:01 PM EST / Updated Dec. 6, 2024, 2:49 PM EST
By Bridget Bowman, Ben Kamisar and Scott Bland
Billionaire Elon Musk poured more than $20 million into a mysterious super PAC at the end of the 2024 campaign, part of more than $250 million he spent overall to boost President-elect Donald Trump, new campaign finance reports show.

Musk financed RBG PAC, according to the report the group filed Thursday night with the Federal Election Commission. The super PAC, which did not disclose its donors before the election, launched ads contending that Trump did not support a federal abortion ban.

All of the money the group pulled in — $20.5 million — came from a single donation from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust in Austin, Texas. RBG PAC spent almost all of its money on digital ads, mailers and text messages, according to the campaign finance report, which covered Oct. 17 through Nov. 25.

The group's website says Trump and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agree on the abortion issue, drawing criticism from Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara Spara, who told The New York Times that the message was "nothing short of appalling."

Trump took credit for the Supreme Court's overturning Roe v. Wade, a decision that came after three Trump-appointed justices voted with the majority to overturn the national right to an abortion. (One of those justices, Amy Coney Barrett, was appointed to replace Ginsburg weeks before the 2020 election, after Ginsburg died in mid-September.) As president, he supported a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks.

But during this campaign, Trump backed away from that position and instead declared that he supported states' rights to decide abortion laws. Democrats still hit Trump hard on his past positions to argue that if he were elected, he and a Republican Congress would restrict abortion nationwide.

The late ad blitz from RBG PAC is only a small fraction of Musk's total election spending this year: He also financed America PAC, a super PAC that reported spending $157 million supporting Trump in the presidential race.

America PAC’s latest campaign finance report showed Musk donated $238 million to the group throughout the election cycle, including in-kind contributions. And $120 million of that came in the final weeks of the race alone. Musk also cut a check for more than $920,000 to one of Trump's joint fundraising committees a few weeks before Election Day.

Federal disclosures show America PAC spent heavily on canvassing, text message-based get-out-the-vote efforts, printing and postage (most likely for direct mail), as well as digital advertising. It also ran a controversial cash giveaway that gave out $1 million each day to someone who signed the group's conservative-leaning petition.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and America PAC in late October trying to halt the giveaway, but a judge in the state did not agree to stop the program. The Justice Department also warned the PAC around the same time that the giveaway might be illegal, but it has taken no public action on it.

America PAC’s campaign finance report lists each of the $1 million prizes as payments for a "spokesperson consultant."

Musk also gave $3 million to the MAHA Alliance, a super PAC affiliated with Robert F. Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" push, in late October.

It's possible that Musk donated more to pro-Trump efforts, too, as political committees continue to file fundraising reports pegged to Thursday night's deadline.

Musk, the founder of Space X and CEO of Tesla, is one of Trump's top donors this cycle, but he has also been among his most visible. He has been a regular presence at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida estate, and by Trump's side during the transition (to the consternation of some in Trump's orbit).

Trump selected Musk to advise him on cutting spending across the federal government as a co-chair of his "Department of Government Efficiency" initiative.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e ... rcna182922

[ti-amie]

Seth Abramson
‪@sethabramson.bsky.social‬

I only taught journalism for years but every part of this seems pretty unambiguously wrong and also un-American

[Owendonovan]

I wonder what would be the right way to cut expenses with a goal of zero deficit. Any thoughts?

Military and pork. There's a way, I think I know what you're asking. I'm trained in accounting, although I'm a teacher. If I was willing to look at the US budget more than the general one I can see, I could find ways. Balance, I'm not sure how long that would take, quite a while. there's a whole political dynamic to so much of the budget, that you some how have to figure out what's pork and what's not. Until we start making money off the military, it's alway s going to be a drain, especially the military we think we need here in America.

[ashkor87]

Read The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton if you really want to understand deficits.

[Owendonovan]

Seth Abramson
‪@sethabramson.bsky.social‬

I only taught journalism for years but every part of this seems pretty unambiguously wrong and also un-American

I find no value in Patriotism, it's a weapon.

[Suliso]

There is a lot of value in it. Particularly in smaller countries, probably no survival without it.