For months now, Donald Trump and members of his administration have been whining that CNN doesn’t treat them fairly with their coverage. At a press conference, Trump even refused to take a question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta, telling Acosta:

“You’re fake news.”

Coming from the king of misinformation, the line was both ironic and hypocritical.

And the Trump camp has announced that no White House officials will appear on CNN. The ban, which an administration official claims is only temporary, is based on the following criteria:

“We’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda.”

Translation: Fox News and Breitbart, with an occasional Christian Broadcasting Network interview and perhaps a drop-in to discuss immigration policy with the KKK and whatever neo-Nazi media outlet wants to write a fluff piece about Führer Donnie.

When asked about the ban, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied that CNN was being frozen out by the administration, adding:

“I’m not going to sit around and engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right.”

In other words, if you refuse to accept the pablum and propaganda being dished out by a designated spokesperson, you don’t get any access whatsoever. How wonderfully neo-fascist of them!

Apparently Trump and his media advisers think that by punishing CNN for not being more positive in their portrayal of the alleged president, they can moderate the networks views and make them come around to their way of thinking. But I would urge them not to hold their collective breath waiting for that to occur.

Wonder what the Trump camp will do when CNN’s ratings go through the roof and more people watch as an act of defiance and resistance to the increasingly paranoid White House. If Trump and his minions think they can declare war on the press and it end well for them, they’d be wise to study the outcome that produced for Richard Nixon.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org