Heckling Jim Acosta Is as Much an Exercise of the First Amendment as Anything CNN Has Done Recently

Jim Acosta made the trip to Tampa yesterday to cover a Trump rally there. As was to be expected, Acosta did not receive a warm welcome. But he did receive a hilarious one.

FACT CHECK: CNN does suck. It rates next to last in trust of all networks.

BBC, Fox News, PBS ranked as TV’s most trusted news brands https://t.co/Y9ip9Ndpe2 pic.twitter.com/m49MDPwJz3

— The Hill (@thehill) August 1, 2018

Predictably, Acosta and his fellatistos made him a martyr.

Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018

Grown men and women giving the finger and telling another human being “You suck” and worse. I like to believe we are all capable of a lot better than this. https://t.co/REllRuH3EH

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 1, 2018

This is what’s happening at the Trump rally in Tampa as @Acosta does a live shot. Folks booing, shouting “traitor,” and “you’re a liar.” pic.twitter.com/aUoUF4cwcB

— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) July 31, 2018

Disgusting, disgraceful, and unworthy of anyone who respects the First Amendment—not to mention basic manners. POTUS and his crew refuse to put a stop to this. Future generations will wonder why we the people let this happen, and there’s no good answer. Mob rule, pure & simple. https://t.co/P0i5zU3OzB

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) August 1, 2018

Keep in mind, none of these people are offended by antifa riots, or menopausal harpies wearing pussy hats and chanting “f*** Trump.” None of their sense of civility was offended when Sarah Sanders was refused service in a restaurant or when Michael Savage was sucker-punched while leaving a restaurant. These people are just feigning outrage because the mask is slowly being stripped off and revealing them to be nothing more or less than run-of-the-mill Democrat apparatchiks who carry water for whatever cause they are instructed to support.

Let’s look at this.

1. The worst that anyone can say about the crowd is that they learned their manners from Jim Acosta’s behavior in the White House press briefings.
2. No journalists were harmed in the making of this video.
3. The crowd was not hostile to Acosta, note Acosta retweets this:

After each live shot, @Acosta would walk down and politely talk to the people who just heckled him. He talked to one group for at least 15 minutes. pic.twitter.com/J26nlxfD6k

— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) August 1, 2018

4. This has zero to do with the First Amendment. In fact, it was a celebration of that right by the crowd. The fact that Congress can’t make laws restricting the right of people–people, not just blow-dried hirelings of Jeff Zucker–to report on events, doesn’t compel anyone else to cooperate with the media as they try to claim relevance and sell advertising.
5. The anti-Republican anti-conservative hysteria drummed up by the media has led to at least two armed attacks. One on the Family Research Council and another on the Congressional GOP baseball practice. To date, there have been no shootings of reporters.
6. You can’t reasonably expect people whom you hold in open contempt to really care about what you think.

If you put everyone’s mouths together in this video, you’d get a full set of teeth https://t.co/NWlicnJ4Mc

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) August 1, 2018

What is really going on here is just a reality television episode. Trump and his communications apparatus need a foil. And if you called Central Casting as said “send me an arrogant, obnoxious ass with barely enough brain cells to find the front end of the camera,” Jim Acosta would show up. Acosta is desperate for any stunt that will vault CNN past the Food Network in viewership.

The First Amendment protects the right of journalists to snark on Twitter about Trump rallies.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

Trump vs. the media is a mutually beneficial relationship, my friends. It has been that way for 40 years.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

The terms of the agreement have shifted from, “Trump gives them scoops to sell papers” to “Both sides give the other an opportunity for moral grandstanding.”

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

2016 … refresh my memory. Was that back when your network was giving him millions upon millions (upon millions upon millions) of earned television time? https://t.co/l4ApnG9yNG

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

It was all fun and games so long as Hillary was bound to win.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

“Oh gee whiz. We had no idea that this failed casino magnate whom we rehabilitated into a “business whiz” could parlay his totally unearned media stature into the presidency. Now we must resist. FOR THE REPUBLIC!”

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

You want to blame somebody for Trumpism? There are plenty of people. But you should start with the president of CNN Worldwide, who made a pretty penny rebranding Trump for NBC/Universal, which is second on the list.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

When I was a kid, Trump’s name was a joke. He was a serial philanderer who went bankrupt building the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

How’d that change? Two words. The Apprentice.

Two more words. Jeff Zucker.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

And now CNN has the gall to rend its garments and gnash its teeth shouting RESIST.

No, sir. I am old enough to know the true story. You can’t con me.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

You may get to make money facilitating Trump’s rise AND THEN piously hoping for his downfall.

But you won’t get MY MONEY.

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 1, 2018

This is theater. And, based on the audience leaving Acosta alone and engaging in regular conversation with him between live-shots, it is pretty obvious that the audience has a very good idea of what is going on. Think of this as a WWE match and it really makes sense. But to try and tart this up as some kind of threat against journalists or an assault on the First Amendment is simply dishonest and, in most cases, it is knowingly dishonest.

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