ROOKE: Journalists Banned From White House Receive Vomit-Inducing Hero’s Welcome Upon Return

The White House press corps spent Thursday staging a highly theatrical display of self-regard as they welcomed banned reporters back from exile.

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Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, barred from the complex Friday, were ushered back onto the grounds after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, granted a 14-day temporary restraining order. Colleagues greeted them as if they had returned from war, complete with applause, selfies, and solemn behind-the-scenes footage of reporters walking into the White House.

Honestly, it was all a bit much.

President Donald Trump announced the ban in a Truth Social post Friday, saying that the three outlets should not enjoy privileged access to the White House while they “constantly write or report FICTION and LIES.” No matter how one feels about the ban, access to the White House is a privilege, and presidents from both parties have taken liberties in deciding which organizations receive the coveted access. (RELATED: Who Stands Up For The Back Row?)

Rather than spending their timeout reflecting on why they found themselves in the corner, they chose a level of pageantry that is more typical of a toddler who didn’t learn his lesson than a credentialed White House reporter. It didn’t matter that President Xi Jinping was traveling to the White House; this was their moment to bask in the glow of their victimhood. Their colleagues were more than happy to oblige. Like clapping walruses, networks that had withdrawn from the television pool in solidarity with their comrades now treated the returning correspondents as symbols of journalistic valor. (RELATED: Taiwan Arms, Rare Earths, Tariffs And Iran Hang Over Trump-Xi Summit)

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It’s all so comical coming from the same people who spend so much time lecturing others about accountability. Treating the returning reporters as martyrs might play well at their dinner parties, but with everyday Americans, it invites them to conclude that, once again, the press corps firmly believes that any attempt to hold them accountable should be seen as an assault on the free press. There’s no such thing as self-examination among the morally superior.

Thursday’s spectacle was embarrassing, but mostly because it was so predictable. If anything, the more they cheered for their colleagues, the louder their contradictions became.

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