Reporters play by Trumps rules, smile for camera over potato chips and champagne

[DesertRat]

Cold cuts, potato chips and Trump-branded champagne

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump regularly smeared reporters as “disgusting,” “dishonest,” “corrupt,” and egged rally-goers to jeer and heckle reporters covering his events. He broke with decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns and hasn’t held a press conference since July 27, when he encouraged Russian hackers to target Hillary Clinton, adding that media coverage would result in the hackers being “rewarded mightily by our press.”

During a rally late last year, Trump, speaking about journalists, said that “I hate some of these people, but I’d never kill them.” NBC’s Katy Tur was protected by the Secret Service after Trump singled her out by name during a rally. Trump regularly threatened to sue those who spoke out against him or covered him critically, including the New York Times. Weeks before the election, Trump said he thinks the First Amendment provides “too much protection” for free speech because “our press is allowed to say whatever they want.”

But now that Trump is president-elect, journalists are more hungry than ever for access. And on Sunday night, Trump played along by hosting an off-the-record confab at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Springs, Florida.

Trump didn’t answer questions about his conflicts or interest or provide an update about when his tax returns might be released. But according to photos of the events shared by Politico co-founder Mike Allen, attendees were treated to cold cuts, potato chips, and Trump-branded champagne.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-journalists-mar-a-lago-champagne-chips-9a61d0289e1#.7fggcbhkg