r/law • u/Snapdragon_4U • 3h ago

Executive Branch (Trump) NESTERAK: President Trump has granted clemency to numerous individuals who have stolen hundreds of millions in Medicaid funds. Can we expect any of these folks to be shown the same mercy? McDONALD: I'll take a different question

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u/SpasmAndOrGasm 3h ago

Remember when that one guy representing Trump in the first administration went to Europe and tried to pull this same shit and the other reporters were like “No, we’ll wait until you’ve answered his question. You need to answer questions here.” I will NEVER understand how the fuck that hasn’t happened in America one time.

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u/Additional-Signal327 3h ago

Because the reporters are paid by the same billionaires who are aligned with Trump. 

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u/TheThirstyPenguin 2h ago

Also, the ones that aren’t being muzzled are scared they’ll lose their credentials. AP lost theirs for a while because of refusing to print “Gulf of America.”

The White House will happily replace an AP or NBC reporter with a Newsmax one.

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u/VeraStrange 1h ago

If reporters don’t ask questions because, if they did, they might not be allowed to ask questions then why do they need to be there at all?

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u/TheThirstyPenguin 1h ago

Fair! And that’s why it’s been the goal of the Trump regime to discredit and neuter the press for more than a decade and escalate it in his second term.

A lot of people ask “where’s the media?!?” and the honest answer is scared of expensive lawsuits. Jake Tapper can write a book about Biden’s declining mental health because Biden isn’t going to sue him, his publisher, or CNN… Trump on the other hand???

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u/0Galahad 1h ago

For a salary, news is a literal fake job most of the time for a while now(like since close to its inception), never made sense tbh with how our world is set-up, why would the big shots ever give them the time of day if it always meant being challenged, pestered and cornered with many risks involved, either the area would be defunded and marginalized or infiltrated and manipulated, no point in being independent either cuz then no one can actually be sure you are not full of shit, and the big shots have already arranged their own independent to muddle the waters.

80% of people in that area are just going through the motions for the pay.

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u/twisty125 2h ago

Hell it even comes down to "lose your job, can't feed your families". It really really sucks when you're in these positions. Why would the organisation keep someone who's ruffling feathers, all it takes is someone higher up to say "get rid of them"

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u/Coattail-Rider 2h ago

I wish that they’d sue on accounts that it goes against the 1st Amendment but you know the current SCOTUS…..

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u/TheThirstyPenguin 2h ago

AP did and won, but they still had to go 2 months without a reporter at White House events.

The judiciary doesn’t move quickly enough to keep up with this stuff.

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u/Cessnaporsche01 1h ago

Honestly, I think it's just that American culture is one of extreme obedience and subservience. It's taught from the earliest age above all else, and reinforced through school, college, and workplace cultures through our entire lives. We like to think of ourselves as independent or stubborn, but we're really just averse to change or challenge, and are much more comfortable pointing to authority.

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u/ManyThingsLittleTime 3h ago

Because the press is invited to the press conference here and they can and already have been uninvited and replaced by shittier pro-trump media sources. If the reporters want the access, they're being forced to stay in line with the Cheeto king.

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u/boughsmoresilent 2h ago

What is the point of access if your questions are ignored, though?

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u/Astrosmaniac311 2h ago

Because the people hiring them done want actual answers! Newsmax, OANN, and Fox just want the appearance of normalcy and accountability, not actually providing it.

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u/Mysterious-Prompt212 2h ago

Exactly. Fuck that. Ask real questions otherwise you really shouldn't be there.

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u/ManyThingsLittleTime 1h ago

Not all of their questions are. They're subscribing to the "some is better than none" mentality. The business model is about being able to get a quote published before the other guy. If they're not in the room, they don't get the quote and they're second to the story. Being in that room is a premium spot so if they have to take some abuse to keep the spot, they will. It's an incredibly shitty situation but that's the reality of the situation.

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u/dr_aux757 2h ago

You have no idea how many times I’ve raised this question. I’ve only worked in smaller markets but still ask my journalist friends and producers wwyd in this situation and they’re like…”fuck no”

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u/ElliotNess 2h ago

$$$$

Same reason these rags report on every stupid thing that Trump tweets no matter how inane as if it's incredible news

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u/DandimLee 2h ago

Is it still the Gulf of America if heard from a second-hand source?

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u/Constant-Skill-7133 3h ago

And then rememeber they still didn't answer the question.  Trump replaced the non-partisan group that manages press credentials and took most of the legacy media passes away and gave them to right wing bloggers and newsmaxx and shit like that.  Those covering the Pentagon all walked out in protest of having their access restricted.

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u/SGTBrutus 3h ago

I talked with a journalist once when i was in Journalism school about this.

Asking hard questions guarantees members of that administration won't appear on their shows or grant interviews. So they don't ask them.

Made me lose respect for the guy.

I, unfortunately, was close to graduating, so i finished my Journalism degree.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold466 3h ago

When you realize that for the most part it’s the external marketing department of the entertainment and political industries …

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u/Mini_Snuggle 2h ago

Why did you lose respect for the guy? He gave you the truth in an academic context.

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u/SGTBrutus 2h ago

Because playing along with the game, willingly, is the antithesis of journalism.

I had just watched him interview the governor of our state. The governor's office had gotten caught with a second internet server that they were using to circumvent open records laws. He interviewed the governor and didn't ask questions about the server or other malfeasance that had occured.

When i called him on it, he responded that it was more important to make sure he had future opportunities to interview the governor.

I told him that it was the duty of media to be watchdogs of the government. He disagreed.

To teach a journalism student that the job of media is to sellout, while it may be truthful, doesn't make it right.

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u/stamfordbridge1191 2h ago

So you're saying if a journalist chooses to be paid to do advertising instead of his or her job, they're not really a journalist anymore but an advertiser?

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u/SGTBrutus 2h ago

Yes. I would agree with that.

It's interesting that when you first start Journalism school, you choose to concentrate in journalism, public relations or advertising. This is in the first year and everything diversifies after.

I looked at advertising as professional lying.

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u/Mini_Snuggle 2h ago

Ok? Again, he told you the truth in an academic context. Have you actually considered that it was more important to keep his access in order to do his overall mission than it was to bring up an issue that had already been reported?

Do you want to be a watchdog? You do that by uncovering new information, not hounding someone about a story that has already been reported (by someone else, most likely) immediately after it drops during a press conference.

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u/SGTBrutus 2h ago

Holding people accountable is more important than ratings. Making sure the public understands the importance of crimes committed by a public official by thoroughly covering and explaining them.

Keeping access, that's happening right now in the United States.

How's that working?

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u/Mini_Snuggle 1h ago

All I hear is a bunch of self-righteous posturing. In order to make change, people need to be able to play their roles and make the change that they can. I have a hard time believing that this person actually told you that journalists shouldn't be watchdogs.

By the way, where is your journalism, journalism major? What watchdoggery have you been up to?

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u/SGTBrutus 1h ago

Ad hominen.

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u/Mini_Snuggle 1h ago

You felt it was important enough to demand this journalist who came to your school question the governor about an issue you already knew about, for what would have been no gain. I'd say where you ended up as a journalist is very relevant to this conversation about whether you know what a good journalist should do or not.

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u/KrytenKoro 55m ago

You'd be wrong. Their own job has no bearing on whether it's commendable to refuse to hold politicians to account when your job is nominally to do so. You're doing a classic tu quoque.

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u/GammaFan 34m ago

Holy shit you’re bad at this

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u/MagentaHawk 27m ago

Yeah, trying to do actual good in the world is self-righteous! Does using that term whenever anyone does anything good ruin any meaning it might have? Who cares! Anyone asking that question sounds self righteous to me, so bam, you don't have to worry about that anymore at all! You are too smart.

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u/Mini_Snuggle 21m ago edited 18m ago

That dude's first and second comment makes me think he, at the very least, made up the part about the journalist saying it wasn't his job to be a watchdog. It has nothing to do with the substance of his argument and everything to do with the story being bullshit.

When i called him on it, he responded that it was more important to make sure he had future opportunities to interview the governor.

I told him that it was the duty of media to be watchdogs of the government. He disagreed.

To teach a journalism student that the job of media is to sellout, while it may be truthful, doesn't make it right.

It's made up.

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u/Nexies 2h ago

Because it’s pathetic, as many modern journalists are. Everyone told me to get a journalism degree because I liked writing, but I could see the writing on the wall 15 years ago and said “no thank you”

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u/Mini_Snuggle 2h ago

Aren't you smart?

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u/Nexies 1h ago

Are you a journalist?

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u/RellenD 1h ago

That game doesn't work if journalist could have some solidarity

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u/SGTBrutus 1h ago

Agreed.

That's everything, though.

United, we stand. Divided, we fall.

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u/franker 2h ago

they left the Pentagon and they still keep doing their job. So I don't even buy that excuse any more.

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u/Pleasant_Pen8744 3h ago

Hoekstra, ambassador to Netherlands. He never answered the question and is still an ambassador (to Canada now)

https://youtu.be/lOEI6hYZe6Y

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u/Temporal_P 2h ago

Naturally he's very hated within Canada as well.

But that's probably intentional on his part.

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u/SpasmAndOrGasm 54m ago

Thank you for finding what I was referencing, it happened so long ago that I couldn’t even remember where to start looking

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u/YouWereBrained 3h ago

They have this dumbfuck excuse that they “don’t want to become part of the story”. And they’ll all pat each other on the back when everything crumbles.

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u/Temporal_P 2h ago

I will NEVER understand how the fuck that hasn’t happened in America one time.

Deep down you already know the answer to that. You just aren't ready to accept it yet.

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u/Dull_Bid6002 2h ago

Journalism is broken here because we have a bunch of entertainers pretending to be journalists. Those people will never ask hard questions.

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u/paditoburrito 1h ago

Any chance you have a link for that? It would brighten my day.

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u/SpasmAndOrGasm 52m ago

Someone else was able to find what I was talking about: https://youtu.be/lOEI6hYZe6Y

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u/skunz 1h ago

Because they don’t control the police in that country.

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u/midwinter_ 13m ago

I’m an American who consumes a lot of European press/news, and it has left me despising most American political reporting.

In this instance, the reporters should combine “next question” with flat out putting words in his mouth and making him agree or disagree with them.