Free Speech, the AP, and the Gulf of Mexico
Why this is more important than it appears.
At the start of his first term, President Trump sent his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer out to lambast the White House Press Corp for reporting, accurately, that there were fewer people attending Trump’s first inauguration than Obama’s. Notwithstanding that it obviously wasn’t true, Spicer and Trump insisted that Trump’s first inauguration was seen by more people, on TV and in-person, than any other in our nation’s history. This was obviously a lie. Strangely, most of the main stream media didn’t use the word “lie” in addressing the issue. Words like “unsupported” or “without basis,” were used instead.
Spicer later came to admit that he regretted doing it. But it raises the question, why? Why was Trump so insistent?
Well of course one answer is ego. Trump is always the biggest and the best, and he never lets facts stand in the way of his puffed up claims. But there is another, more insidious reason. Trump, from long years of practice, has learned that if you make the lie big enough, repeat it loudly and often, and never deviate — eventually for many people it becomes true. Trump is literally asking us to believe him and not our lying eyes. He knows that he can bludgeon people into an alternative reality with “alternative facts” that conforms to how Trump wants things to be, regardless of whether they objectively are, or are not.
In politics this can work as long as physical reality doesn’t turn around and bite you in the ass. Trump tried to spin his way through the COVID crisis. Amazingly, it worked… in part. But there was no denying the literally one million Americans who died from COVID. Even Trump couldn’t bull shit his way past that. I submit this was the primary reason Trump lost to Biden. And of course Trump’s unwillingness to admit he lost is another example of how people allow Trump to conform reality to his desires. Today, nearly every Republican official in Washington will not admit that Trump lost the 2020 election. They believe Trump and not their lying eyes. Or at least that’s their public stance.
Which brings us to the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, part of what is going on here is Trump’s imperialist ambitions. He wants to expand American territory. Congratulations, he has invaded and captured the Gulf of Mexico without firing a shot. All it took was an executive order and some spineless capitulation from Google.
I am sure also that Trump’s white supremacy plays a part as well. It probably infuriates him to have a large body of water, adjacent to US territory named ofter a nation of brown people.
But I think this is also another example of what he did with the size of his… crowd. He is insisting we all honor his chosen reality. If he can get us to conform on this point, it will be that much easier for him to get us to conform on other points. Which brings us to the Associated Press known as the AP.
The Associated Press is a large cooperative founded in 1846. It is not a profit making company. Until Trump, it has been considered “the gold standard for neutrality.”
The AP gathers news from around the world, and makes it available to its members, whom are mostly also news organizations. The AP also distributes its member’s news gathering to each other. Before local newspapers were rolled up into large corporations like Gannet or McClatchy, if a local newspaper covered a national news story, or picked up a feature story from another locality, it was often done by the AP. Today it is more complicated, but the AP still fills an important role. The AP’s members are newspapers, TV broadcasters, and radio broadcasters. Another important role the AP plays involved elections. The AP is the only organization that collects and verifies election results in every city and county across the United States.
The AP also publishes the AP Stylebook. This is basically a compendium on spelling, grammar and punctuation that journalists and other writers can use. It is actually pretty influential, and writers in broadcasting, news, magazine publishing, marketing departments and public relations firms traditionally adopt and apply AP grammar and punctuation styles.
When Trump issued orders renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and Denali. The AP issued the following directive to its members, who all use the Stylebook.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday shortly after his inauguration calling for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali, the tallest peak in the United States, to revert to the name Mount McKinley.
The Associated Press sent its staff the following style guidance for both geographic areas. We will use Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging the name Gulf of America in our copy.
We will also use Mount McKinley rather than Denali.
— The AP
Arguably, Trump set a trap, and the AP walked right into it. He was looking for an opportunity to get all of the White House press corp to conform to his vision of reality, to believe him, and not their lying eyes, on something. And this was it.
In response, the White House has banned the AP from traveling with the President, from certain White House events, and from events in the Oval Office. They are going to war with the AP.
"This isn't just about the Gulf of America," White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Axios. "This is about AP weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world."
It is important to unpack what is going on here:
Like all bullies, the White House is picking on the AP because it can. They are not a well known public company with loyal viewers or beloved, and well known journalists.
By casting the AP as a partisan villain, Trump lays the groundwork for saying that the AP’s election verification work is wrong and biased against him.
If the White House can force the AP to conform, that conformity extends out to all of the AP’s members. They are not bound to follow the AP, but like I said, the Stylebook is influential.
The White House is pitting the other media entities against each other. Google has already changed the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America, in Google Maps. It is easy to see other media entities deciding this isn’t a battle worth fighting, and leaving the AP alone to fight for the Gulf of America. It is likely not going to stir up a groundswell of public outrage.
The AP is already asking other news organizations to support them. Will they? Trump is betting that the will not, and that he will establish an everyone for themselves ethos that will allow him to further bully other organizations, knowing that a collective response is not coming.
What the White House is doing is entirely antithetical to the core of the First Amendment. They are punishing a publisher for truthful content solely for political reasons. This is no different in principal from arresting the Publisher of the New York Times for the editorial endorsing Kamala Harris in the last election. Beating up on the AP for using Gulf of Mexico is a clear step in that direction.
Just as a reminder. Free speech for these guys (Musk, Trump, etc.) means ONLY they get to say what they want. Nobody else has free speech unless it is to echo Trump or Musk.
So what should we do? I have a few thoughts:
The AP should sue to have their access restored. What Trump is doing is clearly against the First Amendment, and even this Supreme Court is unlikely to indulge it.
The other members of the White House Press Corp should join in the lawsuit and share the expenses.
The first question at any event in which the AP is banned should be “why is the AP banned from this event?” The follow up should be “Why doesn’t Freedom of Speech include the right to use the name Gulf of Mexico, a name that has stood for the body of water in question (which is mostly outside of US territorial waters) for over 400 years?”
Continue to cover the AP story, give it prominence, and call it what it is, an attempt by Trump to punish the media for not letting him define the truth.
In any way possible, keep the pressure on the Press Secretary to show solidarity. This may mean giving up a little access in exchange for standing with the AP. That is a fair exchange. Remember, today Trump is coming for the AP. Tomorrow he will be coming for you.
If this sounds a little scary… it is! In a podcast recently, Paul Krugman said, “if you are not scared, you are not paying attention.” He is right. Trump’s control over the country is in large part because Republicans in Congress have refused to deploy the power they have to contain him. Many of them don’t like what Trump doing. You can tell by how Mitch McConnell is voting against Trump nominees now that he has no more fucks to give. But they are all worried about primary challenges which will cost them their jobs if they oppose Trump. I suspect they are also worried about actual violence against them by the same people who would have killed them on January 6th if they had not been hustled to safety.
The only answer to this cowardice is collective action. The organizations that live and die by the First Amendment must unite to protect it. The people who live and die by democracy, the rule of law, and civil society must unite to protect it. We must make GOP politicians fear the general election as much or more than the primary. It starts with the mid terms.
Love this! We call it “fact-based journalism” where I come from.