Conservative magazine calls out Trump for ‘CNN Derangement Syndrome’

The editorial board of The Weekly Standard called out President Trump for having “CNN Derangement Syndrome” after the White House banned a CNN reporter from a press event on Wednesday.

The editorial from the conservative outlet called Trump’s obsession with the network “irrational” and defended the CNN reporter who was blocked from a press event for asking questions to Trump. The Weekly Standard has been critical of Trump on a number of occasions. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was acting as the “pool reporter” for all networks during President Trump’s meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday afternoon.

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Collins attempted to ask questions about Trump’s former longtime attorney Michael Cohen and about Russian President Vladimir Putin but was ignored by Trump.

The White House later said her behavior was not “respectful.”

“Collins’s allegedly ‘disrespectful’ questions weren’t the reason for her disinvitation,” The Weekly Standard wrote Thursday. “The reason was her employer, CNN, which the president regards not merely as untrustworthy or hostile but as deeply sinister.”

“Banning a reporter from an open-press White House event is virtually unheard of,” the magazine added.

Only one reporter — Robert Sherrill from The Nation — was denied security clearance by the Secret Service during the Johnson administration because he had once punched the governor of Florida’s press secretary, according to The Weekly Standard.

“Before and since then, presidents of both parties have suffered not just hostile reporters but crackpots and weirdos attending White House press events,” the news outlet wrote.

The Weekly Standard noted that President Obama tried to exclude Fox News from an event before but other networks threatened to boycott the event unless Fox News was allowed in.

Fox News said Wednesday that it stood in solidarity with Collins and CNN.

“It’s paranoid and puerile to treat one media organization as uniquely guilty of all that’s wrong with society,” The Weekly Standard wrote. 

Trump’s “constant and frequently personal attacks on the organization and its employees are regrettable,” the magazine added.

Trump frequently rebuffs CNN as “fake news” and lashed out at the network during an international press conference earlier this month with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“CNN is fake news. I don’t take questions from CNN,” Trump told CNN correspondent Jim Acosta.

“Let’s go to a real network,” he added, giving a question to John Roberts of Fox News.

“Well, we’re a real network too, sir,” Acosta responded.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that Trump caused “a bit of a stir” when he saw that first lady Melania Trump’s television was watching CNN on Air Force One.