The Memo: Trump’s media ban overshadows Xi visit as midterms clock runs down

The key moment of President Trump’s week did not come at the state dinner with Chinese premier Xi Jinping nor as the two leaders toured the National Archives.

It came instead on social media. On Thursday afternoon, Trump proclaimed the arrival of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, as “magnificent” but bemoaned the sparsity of television coverage.

Specifically, he alleged that TV networks “didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP’” and so “they refused to be there.” 

But the claim was not true. The de facto TV boycott had been sparked by a decision Trump himself made — namely, to try to ban three news outlets from the White House because he didn’t like their coverage.

Those three organizations — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — are now back after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump nominee, swiftly granted them a temporary restraining order. 

Kelly’s ruling noted that the outlets are likely to succeed on the merits of their underlying case that Trump infringed upon their First Amendment rights.

It was a rare instance where a Trump attack on the media ended in a clear defeat for the president. And it added to a week that was a galling one for some Republicans, as the president blunted the impact of a major moment — the Xi visit — by his own actions.

Some might argue that Trump’s media ban created yet another distraction from his domestic difficulties. But there is a ready counterargument: An electorate that is shown, in poll after poll, to be discontent with the war in Iran, the economy and the cost of living, seems unlikely to be thrilled by a president pursuing vendettas rather than focusing on their problems.

Attacking the media and causing general uproar is something that Trump “did successfully for two decades, three decades,”........

© The Hill