President Donald Trump was in Chicago on Sunday to catch the final day of the President’s Cup, but he also found his other favorite pasttime on Medinah’s sunny greens: TV cameras.
Sunday marked a stunning comeback for Team USA, which went into the final day trailing the international squad and hoping for a reversal in fortune. Trump, beset by sagging poll numbers, and unpopular wars on the home front and abroad, sought refuge in front of adoring fans and cameras with a national audience.
Both parties walked away happy. A triumphant Brandt Snedeker hoisted the cup high over his head to the cheers of thousands of spectators while a beaming Trump basked in chants of “USA!” during his appearances on the course — as well as a handful of shouts of “four more years” from the country club crowd.
And, yes, the cameras were there rolling: Fox News took a TV pool slot on Sunday, traveling with journalists aboard Air Force One, a signal that the combined networks’ defiance in the face of CNN’s removal from its scheduled press pool rotations may not be absolute. It still isn’t clear if CNN will be included in future pool rotations as the networks’ lawsuit with the White House is ongoing.
Still, TV networks cannot keep themselves away from Trump.
The New York Times reports that after the Air Force One ban, the five major networks (including CNN) agreed to allow the remaining four to resume pool coverage, with the caveat that on days when CNN is scheduled, other networks may choose not to provide pool coverage.
Access to the White House is tightly restricted, and those restrictions were raised under Trump’s second term.
Pool access allows networks and other media outlets (like The Independent) to gain access to the president in otherwise controlled situations where it would be impossible. This includes coverage of the president during events at the White House like bill signings, travel on Air Force One, and close coverage of the president at events and campaign stops around the country.
But even as the administration has repeatedly ignored media outlets’ complaints about reduced access and Trump’s recent attempts to ban outlets for critical coverage, outlets including The Independent continue to provide pool coverage and reporting with whatever access remains.
On Sunday, those TV cameras captured Trump smiling and bantering with the grinning athletes of the USA team, images Trump proudly shared on Truth Social.
There isn’t an easy answer here: News networks must continue to watch and cover the president of the United States, an office which under its current occupant has expanded the boundaries, toleration and even expectations for the use of executive power. Given Trump’s own propensity to make news during gaggles with reporters on the sidelines of travel and during White House events on often wholly unrelated issues, reporters have no choice but to play the game.
At the same time, organizations like the White House Correspondents Association, which hosted the president onstage this year, risk trending towards impotency if they’re seen as both providing a comfort blanket for an embattled president and simultaneously can’t stick up for their own.
None of this seems to have much of an effect on voters, who are quickly souring on Republican candidates this cycle. But as Trump-whisperer New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has deduced, the president’s real joy from the office comes from its trappings, chiefly including the role of “master of ceremonies” and the ability to command a room with ease.
He’s even leaned into that role to stop the walls from closing in around him in the wake of past political defeats. In his post-presidential life, he embraced a similar role as the wandering baron of Mar-a-Lago, in one case using a surprise appearance at a wedding reception as a vessel to tactlessly launch a series of complaints about losing the election.
With the midterms quickly approaching, there’s little the congressional GOP or the administration can do to spur a sudden polling shift in their favor, save for announcing a deal to end the war in Iran — permanently, this time.
As the president retreats into a bubble of well-wishers and his own backers, the TV networks that used to air Trump’s rallies at length during his first run for president may be having very similar internal debates about what their role is covering a politician who has redefined their use of the media.
