Former President Barack Obama is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to ban three major news outlets from the White House, labeling the move “unimaginable.”
During an appearance at Colgate University, Obama reflected on the state of the current administration, telling the crowd, “My imagination could not foresee some of the stuff that’s going on right now.” He posed a hypothetical to the audience, asking, “I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, ‘You know what, Fox News? You’re out of here.’”
Obama suggested that the public’s reaction to such a move is a reflection of a deeper issue within the electorate. “If you have a certain cohort — let’s call it 30 to 35 percent of the country right now — which thinks that’s OK, well, what that means is we have not developed the kind of understanding of what democracy requires. And we’ve got to shore that back up,” he said.
The controversy began Friday when President Trump announced he was banning reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, accusing them of being “fake news” and claiming they “purposely write negative news” to undermine his administration. By Saturday morning, journalists from those outlets were denied access to the White House and had their press passes seized.
The President followed up the ban on Sunday by posting an AI-generated image on social media depicting three trash bags labeled with the names of the banned outlets sitting outside the White House. He has also hinted that the ban could eventually extend to other major publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
In response to the situation, the affected news organizations have vowed to challenge the administration’s move in court. The White House has declined to provide further comment beyond the President’s initial remarks.