Trump Is Threatening To Take Press Credentials Away From Other Reporters

Donald Trump is threatening freedom of the press, trying to chip away at it one reporter at a time. Today, he threatened to ban more from the White House.  At a brief media availability, as he departed the White House for Paris, Trump again got personal, lashing out at reporters, now saying “there could be others” whose credentials he pulls if they’re “not respectful”

April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks (and also a contributor at CNN) is the latest victim of Trump’s new war on the press. After calling Acosta “a very unprofessional man,” the president lashed out at Ryan by calling her a “loser.” This verbal attack comes after Wednesday’s press conference where Trump told Ryan to “sit down,” while trying to ask a question.

Yahoo reports that after his attack on Ryan, “the president further made comments that some critics feel may expose underlying negative feelings about foreigners and people of color. “I can’t understand you,” he told one woman with an accent, and when African-American White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked him about his connection to white nationalism, he told her she was being “racist.”

Ryan has covered the White House for two decades under four different presidents and she says she has always been able to ask challenging questions with the threat of getting kicked out. And now that’s not the only threat she is dealing with.

Ryan wasn’t the only reporter in Trump’s crosshairs today. He also lashed out at another female reporter, CNN’s Abby Phillip. He said, “you ask a lot of stupid questions.”

Other White House reporters are showing support for Acosta, Phillip, and Ryan. This is a dangerous time in America.  These reporters are just trying to do their jobs.  Tough questions have always come with the territory.