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Lawrence O'Donnell Calls Out the 'Stupidest White House Press Corps (and President)' In History [1]

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Date: 2025-07-09

The devolution of the White House press corps has been one of the most profoundly disturbing and dangerous aspects of the Era of Donald Trump. And it couldn't come at a worse time. As Trump pursues his mission to undermine American principles and rule as an autocratic tyrant, much of the media is cooperating by failing to fulfill their duties as the guardians of democracy.

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Immediately upon his reoccupation of the White House, Trump orchestrated an overhaul of the press corps that he regards as "the enemy of the people.". He installed an FBI boss, Kash Patel, who has threatened to "come after the people in the media." And he ejected credible journalists from the press briefings and replaced them with sycophantic puppets devoted to disseminating his dishonest and self-serving propaganda and lies.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

On Tuesday night, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell addressed this abysmal situation in an extended analysis of what's gone wrong with the Washington press (video below). He tagged the current crop of White House Trump flunkies as "the stupidest White House press corps in history." And that wasn't hyperbole. O'Donnell said that...

"The possibility of a relentlessly stupid person becoming president of the United States has been underexplored by screenwriters. And then Donald Trump came along and went far beyond what Hollywood could ever imagine in the presidency."

Recalling his past as a writer and producer on TV's "The West Wing," O'Donnell opined that...

"If I were writing the character of a stupid president in a script, I would simply have had the stupid president completely rely on a smart White House staff and a smart cabinet and just hide behind those people, and absolutely - and I mean absolutely - never talk to the press, because a stupid president’s stupidity would be immediately exposed by the White House press corps.



"And on that point, I would have been very wrong. Because it turns out the stupidest presidency in American history has the stupidest White House press corps in American history."

What triggered O'Donnell's angst was a remark made by Trump at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting where he took a few questions from the media. At one point he was asked a question by CNN's Kaitlan Collins about whether he had approved of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspending military aid to Ukraine. Trump dodged the question, so Collins asked him directly who approved the pause. Trump arrogantly - or ignorantly - replied "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

x It was Trump's Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, who ordered the pause of weapons to Ukraine. Did Trump know that? Is he lying here? Or is he utterly ignorant of what's going on in his own administration? — News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T17:01:03.549Z

O'Donnell went on to criticize the press corps that Trump "has been able to beat down and humiliate...to the point where they take that for an answer meekly and shut up." No one bothered to press Trump for a serious answer about who is running the Defense Department. Note that Hegseth was sitting next to him at the table.

Following this embarrassing exchange, Trump later the same day told the press that he would be resuming military aid to Ukraine. So it makes one wonder how Hegseth manages to hold on to his job in the wake of so many glaring mistakes, including disclosing military attack plans during a chat on the Signal app.

O'Donnell summed up his segment saying that...

"Some individual members of the White House press corps - and I want to stress this - remain excellent at their jobs. But they frequently don’t get to ask Donald Trump a question. [...] And I have to admit, if I were in the White House press corps, I’m not sure I would figure out how to resist it, except to maybe yell out some question about Donald Trump lying about something. And then I wouldn’t be in the White House press corps anymore. I would be shown out the door and that would be the end of that."

Exactly. The media who continue to participate in these charades are behaving like cowards who are afraid to lose their access to the president. But that access is worthless if the only things they ever get out of him are lies and propaganda. It is not worth sacrificing your journalistic integrity.

The media needs to grow a spine and start to challenge Trump, or refuse to show up just to bolster his blatant bullshittery. That shouldn't be a difficult decision.

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