Jim Acosta is back doing what Jim Acosta does best, demanding that the national press form a marching band around him because President Trump hurt his feelings again. This time he appeared on MS NOW, the new branding for what used to be MSNBC, and insisted that mainstream media outlets take “collective action” against Trump over a comment he made to Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey. Trump told her to be “quiet, piggy” after she kept hammering him with Epstein questions he had already brushed aside. Naturally the press corps treated it like a national emergency.
Acosta called the remark disgusting and claimed that if a boss talked to an employee that way in any other workplace, they would be fired. Which might be true, except Donald Trump is not Catherine Lucey’s boss, MSNBC is not a corporate HR department, and Acosta is not the national moral referee. She is a reporter pressing the President of the United States, and he responded with the same blunt sarcasm he has used on reporters for years. The republic will survive.
But Acosta wanted more. He demanded that journalists in the room rise up in righteous fury. He said they should tell Trump his behavior is not appropriate and then flood him with hostile questions until he breaks. To Acosta, the solution is simple. Journalists must perform a coordinated rebellion against the president or the entire industry loses its dignity. The irony here is rich because the media lost its dignity years ago chasing Trump around like political paparazzi.
Then he went even further. Acosta suggested that major outlets send the White House a formal letter threatening to boycott press briefings, Oval Office spray events and even Air Force One travel unless Trump stops mocking them. He literally wants the national press to walk off the job until the president promises to be nicer. According to Acosta, the message should be, You can have Fox and the other conservative outlets cover you, but we are going to take a break until you clean up your act.
This is the same Jim Acosta who treated the White House like a personal performance stage during the first Trump term. He threw tantrums, interrupted constantly, refused to yield the microphone and then acted shocked when his press pass was suspended. Trump called him a rude, terrible person and said CNN should be ashamed to employ him. Later, when Acosta finally left CNN, Trump celebrated by calling him a major loser. And let’s be honest, that one stuck.
Acosta’s latest plea for solidarity is nothing new. The press never forgave Trump for refusing to fear them, and Acosta never forgave Trump for outmatching him in every exchange. Now he wants the media to unionize around his wounded ego. The country has bigger problems than Jim Acosta’s hurt pride.
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