By: Merrill Pikerson
President Trump has declared that he will no longer allow Bloomberg News reporters to obtain press credentials in order to provide coverage of Trump campaign events.
Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale revealed that the decision had been made following Bloomberg News’ statement that it will refuse to investigate Democratic candidates now that owner billionaire Mike Bloomberg has joined the race.
“The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is troubling and wrong. Bloomberg News has declared that they won’t investigate their boss or his Democrat competitors, many of whom are current holders of high office, but will continue critical reporting on President Trump,” Parscale said in a statement.
“Since they have declared their bias openly, the Trump campaign will no longer credential representatives of Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events. We will determine whether to engage with individual reporters or answer inquiries from Bloomberg News on a case-by-case basis,” he continued.
The New York Post reported that Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait “sent a memo to the newsroom saying the media outlet would continue its policy “of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries.” Micklethwait called Team Trump “the government of the day” and said the president would remain fair game. He also denied bias against Trump.”
“The accusation of bias couldn’t be further from the truth. We have covered Donald Trump fairly and in an unbiased way since he became a candidate in 2015 and will continue to do so despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign,” Micklethwait said
Far from being an objective newsman, Bloomberg has already bombarded the president with insults and innuendos. For instance, his campaign web site includes: “I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America. We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions. He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage. The stakes could not be higher. We must win this election. And we must begin rebuilding America.”
Like his fellow Democrat competitors, Bloomberg may achieve exactly the opposite of what he hopes to. As thehill.com recently noted, “The bitter irony is that Bloomberg, a mega-billionaire, lifelong Republican, and New York conservative, has no chance of actually winning this year’s populist-leaning Democratic nomination himself. But his candidacy holds a host of dangers for Democrats and could complicate their efforts to defeat Trump.”
