By Jeffrey Blehar
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
With nothing better to do and nowhere left to turn in the
dregs
of his unpopularity, Trump is throwing yet another public snit. On Friday,
fresh off a rebuke from the court about any potential surprise
demolition of the Kennedy Center — and with Susie Wiles out of town — our
emotionally incontinent president took to his favorite forum to lash out
against an easy and predictable target, the mainstream
media. From atop his mighty perch on Truth Social, Trump thundered:
I am proud to announce that,
effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed
their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico
(The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an
All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe
Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the
White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS! Media Outlets
shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re
covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the
United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you
for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The next day, the ban went into effect and journalists
from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were barred from White House grounds.
What did they do to provoke Trump’s special wrath this time? Nobody knows! Exist
is my guess. They are a target of convenience — left-coded enough that Trump
thinks he can kick them like dogs to his satisfaction while basking in the
cheers of his MAGA faithful: There you go, that ought to repair that -38 job
approval rating! (Don’t doubt for a moment that Trump genuinely believes
that he would be at +20 approval were it not for faithless media coverage.)
It’s also important to stress that Trump intends this as
a humiliation ritual. Politico will not cease writing stories on the
truly spectacular corruption within the Trump White House because
of this, nor will CNN suddenly start ignoring Trump’s poll ratings. The ban is
meant merely to send a public message of disgrace to these outlets and imply a
warning to the rest: Behave well, or else.
The media, to their credit, have called Trump’s bluff: In
what the New York Times labels an “extraordinary escalation,” every major television network —
including Fox News — agreed to suspend pool coverage of the president.
The cynic in me wants to suggest that the best thing for
the GOP in November would be for Trump to stubbornly keep fighting: Republicans
could only hope to be so lucky as to have this man disappear completely from
the news for the next month and a half. (I hear the Springfield
Mystery Spot is lovely this time of year.) But for once, I suspect Trump
may eventually bend. He might prefer to drag these three organizations through
the courts before he relents, but more than anything else, the man craves
attention. Denying him the attention of the mainstream media — beyond whatever
effect it might have on public messaging — is like denying Narcissus his pool
of water to gaze into.
I am a rather bitter skeptic of the mainstream media. But I recognize a
tantrum when I see one. And the media have a tradition of solidarity: When
Barack Obama once tried something far smaller — excluding Fox News from a single pool interview — all the
other networks refused to proceed. (The affair lasted all of one day.) Trump’s
move is vastly more sweeping, as befits his personality. I will reemphasize my
foundational observation about the man: He is the most psychologically
transparent president we have ever had, pathetically so, excruciating in his
egotistical simplicity. Trump’s latest tantrum is merely the sort of
provocation that this kind of person idly engages in when he’s out of other
options, when the consciousness of impending loss is finally sinking in. The
country is preparing to reject Trump. What comes next? What are the chances
that Trump simply decides to return the favor?
The next two years are going to be wild.
Trump Prepares to Force His Triumphal Arch on D.C.
Washington, D.C., is a nice enough little hamlet, despite
the weather and that 25 mph traffic camera that always nails you on the K
Street underpass beneath Washington Circle. But as a Beltway kid born and
raised — I acquired my refined Chicago manners only later in life — I find it
impossible not to notice that, for all of its museums and monuments, my
hometown lacks that certain something that all world-class cities have: an
inappropriately gargantuan, chintz-plated triumphal-arch-cum-sniper-installation. Thankfully, that’s
about to be fixed: The Arch is coming. From Truth Social:
At the strong request of the
United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to
convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many
years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge,
into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the
rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof
and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper
ammunition in storage. There will be no facility like this anywhere in the
World. Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE
IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far,
the greatest of them all! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
President DONALD J. TRUMP
My initial observation: If you’re ever low on ammo in the
DMV, you no longer have to head all the way to Southeast
D.C. to restock. Save money on gas!
But more to the point: Why would Trump’s garishly elephantine victory arch — at 250 feet, it would
dwarf every other building in Washington — require a drone and sniper
installation? For the same reason the White House’s new ballroom was designated
a drone site: Experience has taught Trump that designating any building project
an “integrated military complex” is enough to silence the Supreme Court (and plow through the rulings of
lower courts). Since the Court didn’t stop the ballroom, how can it get in the
way of this clear military exigency?
Will it work? Who knows. Trump’s most likely strategy
will be to render the question moot by throwing the Arch up as fast and as
cheaply as possible, in the teeth of public opposition. It would be beneath my
dignity and a waste of your time to explain the many reasons why Trump’s
claimed legal and historical justifications for spending $100 million on this
project are insultingly spurious, and beside the point to boot. The only real
question is who is going to pay for it. Trump has already declared that the taxpayers
are on the hook, but he promises a “public/private mix.” (Those familiar
with Trump’s charitable habits already understand that this means “fully
public.”)
Trump believes that if he publicly pretends the debate is
over, he can push onward — and he has to, because he’s running out of time. He
likely intends to start breaking ground, digging as fast as he can, and daring
either the courts to stop him, Congress to impeach him, or the next
administration to tear it down. He is betting that they won’t. He may be right.
And it’s worth the risk (for him, at least): Trump craves nothing so much as
the prospect of irrevocably imposing himself on the skyline of a world city,
and he will never get another chance.
I would be a fool to predict the exact form the mad spree
of self-aggrandizement will take, following the elections – but it’s coming.
Trump faces two years of being whipped like a rented mule by a Democratic
Congress. (The over/under on impeachments starts at 1.) But do not underrate
how determined he is to attach his name to something permanent and suitably
grandiose in Washington, D.C. Do not be surprised if he is willing to sacrifice
almost every other political priority. You’ve already seen the omens; take them
seriously. Trump has been telegraphing his moves for well over a decade.
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