I’m a White House reporter. Here’s the side of the Trump administration you don’t see on TV

A year ago, I was watching the game on my laptop screen in the White House press room as Donald Trump was sworn in, and every time someone opened the door, I was greeted by a ridiculous amount of cold air filling the small space.

As he delivered not one but two separate brief speeches at the Capitol — first a traditional post-inauguration address in the Capitol Rotunda, and then a second, more partisan and off-the-cuff rant to supporters seated in the overflow area — I looked up and saw a colleague from another news outlet who, like me, has been the focus of the White House since the beginning of Trump’s tumultuous first term nearly a decade ago.

As the president rattled off the grievances and scorn he has suffered since losing the 2020 election and fleeing to Florida for a brief exile from power under the Biden administration, she rolled her eyes, turned to me, and gave me a knowing smile.

“Here we go again,” she said.

Those of us who covered the first Trump administration thought we knew what to expect. Boy, were we wrong.

The first four years of his administration were often characterized by non-stop news coverage, leaving reporters exhausted but well fed by the deluge of information leaked from all corners of the West Wing, less useful and often less truthful information delivered by a rotating cast of press secretaries and spokesmen.

Sean Spicer’s now-infamous press room debut in 2017, in which he berated the media for reporting that the number of people who attended Trump’s first inauguration was far smaller than the number of people who attended Barack Obama’s swearing-in more or less set the tone for the next four years. Things only got weirder from there, with his appearances in the briefing room becoming so bizarre – remember “Holocaust Central”? —Melissa McCarthy’s infamous impersonation of him on “Saturday Night Live.”

The press conferences have become increasingly spaced out as Trump has moved from the often combative Spicer to the more affable but equally unhelpful Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is now living her best life as governor of Arkansas, to Stephanie Grisham, who has not held a single press conference her entire term.

Although Trump’s official schedule doesn’t begin until the morning, reporters like me have made a habit of arriving at the White House at 7 a.m. because administration officials (usually Kellyanne Conway) will Have a boxing match with us After appearing on Fox News.

The president himself has discovered the press briefing room during the Covid-19 pandemic, often spending up to 90 minutes a day taking questions from a slimmed-down press corps while Americans stayed home.

While Trump often likes to attack or disparage specific journalists or outlets, his administration more or less lets us do our jobs.

When Trump was sworn in for the second time, our expectations for the situation were even more similar, and as I and other colleagues greeted the incoming Trump II press staff (some of whom we knew from his previous term) on Inauguration Day, one person said to me that the atmosphere had a “first day of school” vibe that promised a smoother ride than last time.

Well, guess again.

To be sure, from a beat journalist’s perspective, there were positive differences between Trump One and Trump Two. If you walk into Trump’s office, Trump I News staffers are more likely to yell at you than answer questions, and in his second administration, their counterparts tend to be so cheerful and friendly that it’s a little disturbing.

Unlike the heady days when Spicer, Sanders and Grisham ran an amateurish and taciturn newsroom, press secretary Carolyn Leavitt and communications director Steven Chang were generally professional behind the scenes, and their staff actually responded to inquiries on a regular basis.

But overall, this administration is not that different from the last.

Unlike the leaky ship that was Trump One, Trump’s White House is more disciplined this time around. From a journalist’s perspective, this is not a good thing.

But the real difference will be how Trump’s new team puts his combative approach to free and independent media into action.

In February, Levitt’s office announced it would take control of “pool” rotations, including independent — covering Trump’s Oval Office court appearances and trips around the country on Air Force One.

While my colleagues and I from reputable and legitimate news outlets still take turns submitting collective reports for the rest of the press corps to use to write “first drafts of history,” we are increasingly being joined by White House picks, while some outlets, such as the Associated Press, have been banned for questionable reasons and are currently under court evaluation. sSuch as refusing to acknowledge Trump’s statement that the Gulf of Mexico should now be called the Gulf of America.

Some of the newcomers come from conservative media outlets who operate in a responsible, reputable manner. But frankly, others are sycophants and clowns who provide little information to the American people.

Levitt often made these men proud by asking the first question at White House press briefings – a role traditionally reserved for the AP – from the “new media” seats in an area of ​​the press briefing usually reserved for White House staff.

At one point, she hosted notorious plagiarist turned MAGA troll Benny Johnson there and had him start a briefing with a made-up story about how he and his family fled Washington after their “house was set on fire” (his neighbor’s house was on fire, according to the D.C. Fire Department).

Another of Levitt’s guests, beanie-wearing podcaster Tim Pool, used his time there to complain about how legitimate news outlets described him and others in the “new media” seats, and asked Levitt to join him in disparaging the mainstream media. Levitt responded diplomatically that the administration “welcomes diverse viewpoints.”

Recently, I (and others) were included on a list created by the White House to attack us as biased in retaliation for accurate reporting of the President’s own words and actions.

My counterparts in the Pentagon press corps and elsewhere in Washington fare even worse.

They collectively handed over their press credentials last year after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked them all to sign documents pledging not to ask anyone in the federal government or elsewhere for any information but to release only pre-approved information (the definition of propaganda).

In the halls of the Pentagon, they were replaced by a group of sycophants and influencers who were aligned with the vision of Hegers and his department.

In an attempt to hold a briefing for the “new Pentagon press corps,” seats in the Pentagon briefing room were occupied by self-described “proud Islamophobes” Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz, the disgraced former Florida congressman who was briefly chosen by Trump as attorney general, resigned from the House after he tried unsuccessfully to avoid the release of a damning ethics committee report that allegedly found extensive evidence of his sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. Also found in possession of illegal drugs. Gates has denied both accusations, and no charges have been filed in the Justice Department’s investigation into Gates’ alleged behavior with girls.

Just last week, FBI agents searched a washington post Journalists whom the government claims are communicating with alleged leakers — although it is not illegal for journalists to receive leaked documents, even classified documents.

Agents seized her phone and laptop, ostensibly as part of an investigation into a Defense Department employee who mishandled classified information, but possibly also as a warning to others who dare to communicate with reporters inside the government.

While the president has largely avoided the press briefing room during his first year in office, he has sent Vice President J.D. Vance there more than once, most recently last week, when he appeared there to berate me and my fellow White House press corps over reports of the shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Goode by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

One would think that the Vice President of the United States would have better things to do than scream at a crowd of reporters because he doesn’t like the headlines that make the news, but that’s just the way it is.

Levitt wasn’t shy about issuing outrageous accusations when cornered by legitimate questions she couldn’t answer. A few days ago she attacked one of my colleagues hills — an affable gentleman from Northern Ireland — had the temerity to offer a contrary view to hers after she asked him to tell her what he thought of last week’s shooting.

She reacted to his honest answers by raising her voice angrily and slandering him as “a biased journalist with left-wing views” and a “left-wing hack” who “pretends to be a journalist.”

It’s a tactic Trump himself has used on numerous occasions — often with female or non-white reporters — when asked tough questions about topics he would rather avoid.

Still, one of Trump’s dirty little secrets — then and now — is that he actually likes reporters. One of the things he missed most about the presidency wasn’t the plane rides or other similar perks of the most powerful position in the world, but having a “pool” of reporters he could call on whenever he wanted to talk about anything.

Despite his rants about “fake news,” he’s been calling reporters for years and still takes their calls on his cell phone (Mr. President, if you’re reading this, you can always ask Caroline for my phone number).

The difference this time is that, chillingly, Trump is now surrounded by people who actually believe the anti-media rhetoric he has spouted in public for years while remaining friendly in private.

Trump may occasionally call me and my colleagues “the enemy of the people,” but Vice President Vance, Heggs, Attorney General Pam Bondi and others actually believe it.