Since the left in America is currently in another panic -- either manufactured or just out of ignorance of what words mean -- I want to state one simple truth very clearly. No, President Trump kicking the Associated Press off of Air Force One and out of the Oval Office is not 'censorship.' It is not a 'First Amendment violation' nor the act of a 'tyrant.' The AP still has a spot in the White House briefing room (a fact that Democrats conveniently forget to mention), they can still ask questions, and they are still free to 'report' on the President in any manner they choose.
The fact that they almost always choose poorly is on them, not on Trump.
But I am grateful to President Trump for pointing out another simple truth this week when he was asked at a press conference on Ukraine about the current kerfuffle with the AP after he renamed the Gulf of America and they refused to go along with it.
The Associated Press is ridiculous. It has become a sad mockery of what it once was. And it does not deserve our respect. Here is the clip of the exchange:
Trump on banning the AP from the Oval Office & Air Force One:
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 18, 2025
"That's the way life works. Thank you for the question." 🤣 pic.twitter.com/U9tSEe0pCP
Trump's last line in that exchange, 'That's the way life works,' got a lot of attention and laughs on Twitter after he said it because it is a classic Trump quote. But I want to focus on the first half of Trump's response.
As a career writer and editor, I once considered the AP Stylebook my second Bible. It used to be an invaluable resource for anyone in journalism, communications, or any field where consistent, professional writing is fundamental to that work. It wasn't the only style guide out there (there is also the Chigaco Manual of Style as well as the MLA for those in academic fields, among others), but it was the gold standard ever since it was founded in 1909.
If you wanted to have clearly defined rules for the elements of style in writing, there was no better resource. I used to keep a hard copy by my desk in addition to a subscription to the online Stylebook. Did you want the definitive source for the Oxford comma? The AP Stylebook is what you turned to. If an editor wanted to show another writer exactly how to use quotation marks within a sentence, the proper way to cite other written works, or the correct way to punctuate a bulleted list, all he or she had to do was pull out the old Stylebook and point to the right page. For me, many of those pages were often dog-eared and tattered, I used to refer to them so often whenever someone questioned my edits on an article or white paper.
But in the 21st century, the AP -- like so many other media outlets -- got fatally infected by the woke mind virus. Suddenly, the guide didn't just tell us when and when not to capitalize titles for individuals, but it started to try to tell us how to think.
We could no longer use the terms 'pro-life' or 'pro-abortion' in writing about the right to life or Roe v. Wade. We had to capitalize the word 'black' when referring to the color of someone's skin, but not the word 'white.' And, in the ultimate irony, we were no longer allowed to use the word 'woke.'
There are countless other instances of the AP trying to become the Ministry of Truth by re-educating us on Newspeak. Many on Twitter cited some examples in recent years.
AP changed
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) February 15, 2025
McKinley to Denali
Kiev to Kyiv
&
Turkey to Turkiye
But Trump did this so it’s principled to act like babies?
STFU! https://t.co/t5qZVGWwnZ
What Baker fails to mention is AP’s control of which words the larger media uses in their stories - through AP’s Stylebook guide.
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) February 14, 2025
For example, in 2020 the AP directed all journalists to use “protests” instead of “riots” — even if the riots were overtly violent.
The word… https://t.co/Zt7kHyjD9J
And we couldn't use the word 'looting' to describe what happened in those -- mostly peaceful, of course -- 'protests.' Journalists were instructed to write about 'underlying grievances.'
America's new Director of National Intelligence took 'Associated Propaganda' out to the woodshed long before the recent Gulf of America dustup.
AP’s ‘style guide’ now instructs journalists to use preferred pronouns and avoid terms like ‘biological sex.’ When you read the MSM, know the US govt and ‘woke’ organizations like Associated Propaganda are trying to influence and ‘guide’ you, not provide actual objective truth or… pic.twitter.com/Ldn7HB6txh
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) June 25, 2023
'Who the hell are they?' Exactly correct, Director Gabbard.
If you want an example of dictatorial behavior, it's not President Trump refusing to grant the AP preferred access anymore. It is those same people at the AP (who, we will remind everyone, no one voted for, to use a current favorite catchphrase from the left) trying to tell journalists and writers across America and the world what words they can and cannot use.
Of course, the sins of the AP go well beyond the Stylebook. One of their reporters tried to blame Trump -- without basis -- for the fatal plane crash over the Potomac River in DC, just to use one of the most recent examples
AP tries to blame Trump/DOGE for a fatal plane crash and wonders why it is not welcome at the White House. https://t.co/KuTnkrp7xp
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 17, 2025
There is also the fact that the AP was bought off by USAID grants, to the tune of millions of dollars, to increase its 'climate crisis' reporting in recent years.
For those reasons alone, President Trump should never field a question from the organization again. But he will, and so will his administration, because they are all smarter than the AP 'journalists' and can routinely make them look stupid in public.
But the left's war on language is the real assault against free speech here, a topic I have written about often for Twitchy in the past. It is Orwellian in the worst sense, it succeeded for far too long, and it is long past time for the President and all Americans to tell the Associated Press to stuff it.
We're not listening to them anymore. And if they want to know why, all they need is a mirror.
Trump says the AP has become "obsolete especially in the last three weeks." pic.twitter.com/Gy3qHmvJe5
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) February 18, 2025
It's been going on MUCH longer than the last three weeks. The Gulf of America 'controversy' (which is not a controversy anywhere except in the AP's minds) simply brought it to the forefront again.
But I am grateful for the Associated Press's refusal to adopt the name. It is a great reminder that President Trump is right.
The AP is ridiculous. And it is obsolete.
Even more satisfying than that though is one final simple truth: the AP will lose this fight.
Just like they will lose -- and are losing -- their fight to tell us all how to think, write, and speak.
