By MONA CHAREN
Question: What does CNN's Jim Acosta crave more than anything?
If you said "attention," go to the head of the class. It's a mystery why the White House has given Acosta way more than that. Acosta had his "hard pass" yanked after last week's press conference. Acosta has literally become a federal case. CNN filed suit claiming that their reporter's First and Fifth amendment rights were violated. More than a dozen news organizations, including Fox, have filed amicus briefs supporting CNN. Mr. Showboat is just where he wants to be -- the center of attention -- but thanks to President Donald Trump's gratuitous swipe, he is also a free-press martyr.
Acosta's technique has been honed for many months -- asking questions not to receive answers but to shame. At the Nov. 7 press conference, Acosta rose to "challenge" the president on what he had said about the caravan during the closing days of the campaign: "As you know, Mr. President, the caravan was not an 'invasion.' It's a group of migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the U.S."
It's not Acosta's job to joust with the president over interpretations of words. Leave that to commentators or politicians.
In a fit of petulance, the White House revoked Acosta's press pass. This is Trump not understanding the importance of the office he holds. When Trump the businessman took swipes at press coverage he disliked, it was pique. When the president of the United States does it, it smacks of authoritarianism. Admittedly, the press corps are a high-strung bunch, but this White House flirts with intimidation, calling down contempt for them at rallies, deriding them as the "enemy of the people," (which is an echo of Stalin, whether Trump recognizes it or not), threatening to sic the Federal Trade Commission on the owner of The Washington Post and elevating the likes of The Gateway Pundit.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who cannot be much more honest than her boss and hope to keep her job, issued a tweet explaining that Acosta was exiled because he had apparently physically blocked the intern who attempted to remove the mic from his hands.
Anyone who had watched the exchange -- or looked it up on YouTube -- knew that this was risible. Yet, Sanders said it anyway and even released a video that had been slightly doctored (by speeding it up) to make it seem that Acosta had been physically swatting at the intern.
Within a few days, Sanders changed her tune, claiming instead that the White House cannot run a smooth press conference if reporters hog the mic. But let's pause to consider where this White House has settled. Covering up for an intemperate retaliation against a journalist, the spokesman for the president of the United States attempted to rewrite the history that we had all seen with our own eyes just days before.
Sanders would be a great fit in the Ministry of Truth.
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Mona Charen is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.