The White House should revoke April Ryan’s press credentials

There are times in which I imagine working in the Trump White House — you look around you at the President, his press coverage and his staff get and you wonder if you’re in some kind of twilight zone.

To say the media has been unfair to Trump, his staff and his Administration since day one would be the understatement of the century. Which is why confidence in the media and its “balanced” coverage is so dismal right now.

Today there’s been a lot of talk about CNN’s April Ryan and her delusional misrepresentation of her very pubic exchange with Sarah Huckabee Sanders. What may be one of the most absurd stories I’ve seen come of this White House press briefing room is that Ryan believes Huckabee Sanders was essentially inviting her to a street fight. Because that’s what I think of when I think of Huckabee Sander’s a woman who wants to throw down. Ryan went so far as to call sweet Sarah “Very Street.” Is that even a phrase that people use?

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as I said in my last editorial on the White House Correspondents Dinner, is one of the classiest, most respectable people working in Washington, D.C. and this administration right now. For anyone to insinuate that she is looking for a fist fight is nothing short of comical. It reeks of media desperation in an attempt to shine a media spotlight on yourself. The headlines of the interaction and Ryan’s take on it have been hysterical if not sad: “April Ryan claims Huckabee Sanders’ response could have initiated ‘physical fight’: It was ‘gutter'” and  “April Ryan accuses Sarah Huckabee Sanders of ‘singling her out’.“

Sarah is a professional who’s doing her job. Lord knows it’s not an easy job, but to have to deal with the accusations that she trying to start a street fight with a reporter because she pointed out that the reporter couldn’t speak to what she was feeling is insane.

Should the White House just turn a blind eye to Ryan’s continued antics in the press briefing room? I don’t think they should. Essentially, April Ryan has forfeited her professional obligations as a journalist and has become a sideshow herself. The White House has an obligation to allow the press to cover their events — even press who disagree with the administration — but Ryan has passed that point. Allowing her in, is just allowing a heckler in who’s going to seek out every opportunity to cause a stir and make the media rounds herself.

We deserve better. The American people deserve better. Journalists deserve better. This women needs to have her credentials revoked then she needs to issue Huckabee Saunders an apology. I realize that neither of these things are likely to happen, but that’s what should happen. The press briefing room and press corp should have higher standards than April Ryan and her antics.