President Donald Trump’s White House media ban is backfiring to the point where he may begin to question his entire existence.
On The Daily Beast Podcast, political expert David Rothkopf previewed what may be in store for the president after he initiated a constitutionally questionable White House ban on CNN, Politico, and MS NOW because he didn’t like their coverage. On Monday, the consequences of that move were seen when NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox News, along with photographers from major wire agencies and news outlets, united to pause White House television pool coverage, leaving Trump inaudible—even on the White House’s own livestream.
Since the 80-year-old president loves being on television, Rothkopf said, this could spark an internal crisis.
“I think if Trump stopped being covered—if this media blackout, this boycott kicked in—he would start wondering about his own existence,” Rothkopf told host Joanna Coles. “I think he doesn’t believe he exists unless he reads or sees about himself on TV.”
“He wants to be the center of attention. All he wants in life is to be on TV. It’s his obsession,” Rothkopf continued. “How long before Trump folds on all of this? Because [the networks] didn’t say they’re not providing coverage today; they said they’re not providing coverage indefinitely, and there is no plan for replacement coverage.”
Trump is scheduled to speak this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House. When he spoke Monday at the new South Lawn helipad, which he wanted finished in time for Xi’s visit, he was inaudible.
Rothkopf then addressed how Trump’s 35-year-old executive assistant, Natalie Harp, reportedly played clips of critical coverage of the president on MS NOW before he decided to ban that network and the two others from the White House.
“Do you think there will be internal fury at Natalie Harp for not seeing around the corner of what banning MS NOW and CNN would actually do?” Coles asked.
“I don’t think the response from the professionals, such as they are in the White House, is going to be good. Notably from Susie Wiles, particularly if she reads the Daily Beast piece on the background on this, on Natalie Harp,” he said. “And as we know, the White House reads the Daily Beast all the time. They’re obsessed with the Daily Beast, possibly because of Natalie Harp... You can just imagine late at night, Natalie Harp is there saying, ‘I am your only true follower. I’m the only one who loves you. Here is some nice AI slop pictures of you with your shirt off. You look very attractive. And these mean people out there coming to get you.’”
“And they’re in the bubble, the Natalie-Don bubble, of how he wants to be perceived, how he wants to be loved. And she just plays to all of his worst impulses,” Rothkopf said.
Meanwhile, Wiles has probably been hearing from Republicans in Congress concerned about how this is playing out when the midterms are looming, he continued.
“I saw a story this morning... that was talking about how Republicans are starting to say, ‘Well, Trump is toxic because his approval ratings are down in the 30s.’ They’re falling. On some issues, they’re in the 20s. This is bad, bad news coming up to an election, and Susie Wiles is the shock absorber who gets those calls,” he said, as a new poll on Monday showed the president sinking to just 29 percent approval.
“So I’m sure she is super unhappy with this. I can’t imagine she and Natalie are besties,” Rothkopf said. “But frankly, the other sycophants in the White House all want to be up in Trump’s drawers like Natalie. I think they’re jealous. You know, I think everybody’s jealous of the fact that this 35-year-old woman has found the inside track to the president by playing to his absolute obsession with how he is covered in the media.”
Banning the three networks was also a “bad idea” Rothkopf said, because it didn’t turn out well when the Trump administration revoked then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass.
“The last term he did it to Jim Acosta of CNN, who went to court and got his pass reinstated because, you know, there is the First Amendment still. But nonetheless, Trump has done this. And it finally moved one of the slowest-responding, most pusillanimous organizations in Washington to action—which is to say White House correspondents—because they have watched week in and week out as he has abused women, particularly Kaitlan Collins of CNN and others, and they haven’t done anything. But finally this was a straw too much.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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