Journalists Freak Out Over Trump Not Taking Questions in China, After Obama Did Same Thing

Kristine Marsh
November 10th, 2017 9:01 AM
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Proving they always can find something to complain about when it comes to Trump, journalists from NBC, MSNBC and CNN all took to Twitter to whine about the “freedom of the press” being squashed during Trump’s trip to China this week, where he conceded to China’s request for no press questions during their joint conference.

Journalists even took Obama staffers at their word, spinning the “fact” that Trump was the first president to ever do such a thing. If they had done even the slightest bit of research, they would’ve seen how wrong they were.

In 2009, President Obama also acquiesced to China’s leader's request to not take press questions, during his first trip to the communist country. Yet Obama staffers were out in full force blasting Trump for doing exactly the same thing their boss did just eight years earlier:

Journalists took that note to criticize President Trump, holding him to a standard they didn’t even hold President Obama to. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough sneered, “Mr. President, we have a First Amendment whether China, and you, like it or not:"

Keith Boykin, CNN political commentator and former White House aide to Bill Clinton lamented Trump’s activity in China, saying he “bowed to Chinese insistence not to allow reporters’ questions”:

CNN’s Jim Sciutto wailed that Trump had given China an “invaluable gift” by "muffling the media:"

Sciutto also called it a “remarkable concession” on freedom of the press:

Again, touting false tweets from Obama’s former press secretary:

CNN’s Marshall Cohen also falsely claimed this would’ve never happened with previous presidents:

While NBC’s Chuck Todd also went about tweeting misinformation:

But other reporters, including the Washington Post’s David Nakamura, and CNN’s Jake Tapper, noted that actually, President Obama also conceded to the Chinese to not take press questions during his first trip to China in 2009.