Americans have the power to insist their governments prioritize public safety, but it’ll be a constant struggle until pro-crime Dems start losing en masse, and the politicians finally get the message.
Page A4From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 20 September 2026
Trump's enemies list now filed by press credential, broadcast license, and criminal referral.
As it ran on the front
On August 27th, Attorney General Todd Blanche took the time to publicly scold a Philadelphia district attorney over a joke about a White House ballroom — Larry Krasner had said he'd keep some of the future rubble as a paperweight. Three days later, the president promised to report Kristen Welker to the FCC "for rebuke or punishment," her offense being a true sentence about how Trump-endorsed candidates were actually polling. A broadcast license, floated as a red pen for election math.
By August 31st, the same DA who made the ballroom joke was, in one paper's words, having his "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday." Two weeks after that, on September 15th, a federal judge said Krasner may have committed crimes handling a post-conviction case. The next day, the judge referred Krasner and a top deputy to the Justice Department — Blanche's Justice Department — for possible perjury and false statements. The prosecutor who mocked the ballroom now has a federal case with his name on it.…
…(cont) The same week that referral landed, the White House moved on the press. On September 19th, Trump announced by social media post that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were "banned, effective immediately." By Saturday it wasn't a post anymore — reporters from all three outlets were turned away at the gate and had their physical passes confiscated. The White House Correspondents' Association asked, politely, for access to be "immediately" restored. The Times ran the connective tissue two days later: after a string of losses, the president turned to a familiar target, using the machinery of government to do it.
None of this required a new law. It required an FCC complaint the president can threaten by tweet, a set of building passes the Secret Service can pull on a Saturday, and a federal referral that lands on the desk of the same Attorney General who was, a month earlier, publicly annoyed at the man now facing it. Three different instruments, three different agencies, one list of names that said something the White House didn't like — a losing poll number, a joke about a ballroom, a headline. The FCC doesn't revoke your license for being wrong. Neither does the DOJ open a file, or the Secret Service confiscate a badge, for no reason at all. They just happen to be doing it, this month, to the exact people who crossed the exact same man.
“They didn't pass a single new law to do any of this — they just picked up the paper already sitting on the desk: a press pass, an FCC complaint, a federal referral, three different agencies, one enemies list. Welker gets threatened over a poll number, a DA gets threatened over a ballroom joke, and it's the same message stamped on different letterhead — cross this White House and something official finds a reason to come for the thing that lets you work. That's not paranoia, that's a filing system, and it's got your name in the same drawer as theirs eventually.”
“Nobody banned anybody for being mean about a press conference — a federal judge, not the White House, found the problems with Krasner's case, that's accountability, not retaliation, ask anybody who isn't Krasner. And the outlets, look, they broke basic decorum rules any White House would enforce, ask Obama's press shop, ask — did I say ask Obama's press shop? That's not landing the way I wanted it to.”
The receipts
President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday that he is "banning" CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House "effective immediately."
Some Democrats said President Trump’s ban was an attempt to control the press and distract voters as Republicans face deep challenges in the midterm elections.
The president’s ban of three media outlets from the White House fits a pattern of using the apparatus of government to crack down on his perceived enemies.
After President Trump announced this week he was banning Politico, CNN and MS NOW from accessing the White House, the three media outlets reported Saturday their journalists were denied access to the executive premises. White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jacqui Heinrich called on the White House to “immediately”…
Journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico were barred from accessing the White House grounds and had their passes confiscated on Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump said that he had banned the news outlets. NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reports.
· Trump promises NBC's Welker will be reported to FCC 'for rebuke or punishment' from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· Who Is Natalie Harp? NYT Reporter Maggie Haberman on Trump's Aide & His Attacks on Women Reporters from the morgue, 18 Aug 2026
· AG Blanche scolds Philly DA Krasner for ‘blow up’ ballroom comments from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Judge requests federal probe into Philly DA Larry Krasner from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Federal judge refers Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner to DOJ for possible criminal investigation from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.