MAGA Turns on Trump Over Wild Media Ban

Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images Some of Donald Trump’s most ardent defenders have lashed out at the president’s bid to ban media from the White House, describing the move as a desperate bid to get more favorable coverage—and warning it could backfire spectacularly.

As his popularity continues to tank in the polls, the president on Friday announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would be barred from the White House, and suggested that other outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post could soon be next.

The announcement represented another escalation in the president’s extraordinary second-term campaign to punish news organizations he believes are insufficiently friendly to his administration.

However, the 80-year-old’s latest chilling threat to the First Amendment appears to have unnerved even some of Trump’s conservative and MAGA allies.

Conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a longstanding defender of the president, said the move was an “assault on long-honored principles of a free press,” while acknowledging that he has frequently criticized left-leaning outlets for bias.

“Barring disfavored media from the White House is a terrible precedent and practice,” Turley wrote, warning that it raises “serious constitutional questions.” “It is hard for the United States to advocate for press rights globally when it is banning disfavored outlets,” he added.

Fox News anchor Brit Hume reposted Turley’s criticism with a blunt warning: “100%.

And if he thinks this will lead to more favorable coverage, I think he’s dreaming,” he said.

Consultant and former George W.

Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer agreed that some outlets were biased—but argued the answer was to challenge them, not restrict them.

“Open the pool and the briefing room to conservatives.

Challenge liberal reporters.

Argue and defeat them.

Don’t ban them.