Crybaby Trump beefs with CNN while gas prices crush rest of us | Opinion

Gas costs about $4.50 per gallon and American are struggling to afford meat, so it's good to see President Donald Trump laser-focused on … wait for it … banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House because they hurt his precious feelings.

That should solve our affordability crisis!

The news outlets' crime was accurately reporting the news, none of which is good for Trump, as his approval rating in one poll released Sept. 21 dropped below 30% for the first time.

Trump can't face the fact that Americans are mad because their president got us into an intractable war with Iran that spiked fuel prices, and because food prices make trips to the grocery store painful, and because that same president seems to only care about building ballrooms and arches and slapping his name on buildings.

Gas prices soar while Trump gets mad at the media

Trump undoubtedly sees the polling for the upcoming midterm elections and hears reports about how his unpopular presidency is a drag on GOP candidates. And because he's relentlessly self-obsessed, he thinks it's the job of the president to protect the president's reputation and fragile ego at all costs.

So rather than pay attention to the things that matter to people who aren't Donald Trump, he announced a press ban for the three news organizations via his Truth Social account on Sept. 18, saying he was "proud to announce" that "I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW" and Politico, adding: "Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."

That's a whole lot of bellyaching from the supposed most-powerful leader in the world.

It's also nonsense. And clearly unconstitutional. And, frankly, pathetic.

News organizations fight back against Trump's absurd ban

Trump doesn't cite specific examples of "FICTION" or "LIES," because he clearly considers any reporting that doesn't praise him to the ceiling dishonest.

On Sept. 21, the three news outlets filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, saying: "This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles. Presidents from the earliest days of the Republic have disagreed with and complained about the tenor and content of press coverage of their administrations. But as the Supreme Court has recognized, the First Amendment, including its guarantee of a free press, reflects ‘a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.'"

So now, because Trump got the sads over news reports about how badly he's failing, taxpayer dollars will be used to pay the government lawyers who have to fight this lawsuit.

People want Trump to focus on affordability. He doesn't care.

Americans have been shouting, "Hey, President Trump, we'd sure like to be able to afford milk!" And he has responded by saying, "THESE GUYS HURT MY FEELINGS WITH THE TRUTH AND I WILL UNLEASH THE POWER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON THEM UNTIL THEY BOW TO MY WILL!"

This is almost unbearably stupid. And it's amusing that Trump, a man MAGA enthusiasts hold up as some alpha-dog tough guy, so regularly reveals himself as more easily breakable than a calcium-deficient hen's egg.

Other broadcast news outlets have smartly backed CNN and MS NOW by suspending their White House pool coverage, effectively cutting Trump off from seeing his own face on TV.

We'll see which psychic harm is worse for him.

In the meantime, the rest of us have to watch America's 80-year-old Nero fiddle while we burn through our paychecks putting gas in the car.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crybaby Trump beefs with CNN while gas prices crush rest of us | Opinion

Reporting by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published September 21, 2026 at 11:42 AM.