The White House 'Word Police'

Banning the Associated Press is the start of something bad

The President of the United States unilaterally changed the name of the body of water adjacent to many southern states on his first day in office. What had been called “the Gulf of Mexico” for 400 years became “the Gulf of America.” There was no popular movement or expert consensus backing the name change; most people hadn’t considered the possibility.

Via the BBC:

• "The act of naming is a way that presidents can reshape their vision of the nation," said Allison Prasch, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies political rhetoric.

• Trump's choices in his second term send a clear message about his priorities too, she said.

• "It is elevating a very nationalist, imperialist vision of the United States," Ms Prasch said.

A few days later, the Associated Press released a style guidance memo for members and customers, saying Trump

• "...signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump's order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change."

• The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years, the Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences."

The AP stylebook is considered the gold standard by media organizations and writers throughout the world, serving as a reference book for American English grammar, punctuation, and principles of reporting, including many definitions and rules for usage as well as styles for capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, and numerals.

Nobody is obligated to follow the AP’s guidance, and many media organizations have a few quirky exceptions, usually pertaining to local customs and usage.

On January 28, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held her first briefing, and foreshadowed the fight the White House would pick with legacy media.

• "Karoline said she would not lie and that she would call out media organizations who do lie," a Trump adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And we knew the AP would keep calling the Gulf of America the Gulf of Mexico, and that's misinformation."

Having issued lists of words not allowed in the federal government’s internal and external documents, the administration was spoiling for a fight over how the media referred to its actions.

Following a media event where the president signed a declaration making the name change official, the AP was barred from an Oval Office function. Now the ban has been made permanent, until the news organization changes its guidance.

What was clearly a First Amendment trespass hasn’t caused the stir many people outside the DC bubble thought it would. The White House Correspondents' Association, which represents the press corps, has been trying to work out a solution behind the scenes. Apparently everybody is afraid of escalating this matter given that Trump will play the victim card in the event of a boycott or lawsuit.

Via Axios:

By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, race and law enforcement.

• "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."

• The dispute with AP is part of Trump's broader effort to discredit legacy media outlets and the public's trust in the press — already at a record low.

Since the initial blocking incident, MAGA acolytes have jumped into the fray, including Mike Cernovich, a leading influencer on X , has brought longstanding reactionary complaints to the fore, highlighting assorted ‘politically correct’ usage in some of the AP stylebook's thousands of entries. Trump boosters are referring to the AP as "Associated Propaganda" and mocking the news outlet for pushing "misinformation," which is apparently anything other than what the president utters.

The whining from the right is about groups “otherized” by MAGA ideology not being stigmatized by words in news accounts. And it’s apparently a thought crime to refer to the capital of Ukraine (Kyiv) by anything other than what Putin prefers (Kiev). I guess this makes sense if you accept that Russia and the US are now “partners.”

The real reason no media organization has stood up to the White House by suing or boycotting is the consensus that "everyone assumes they're next," meaning leaders of other news outlets expect their White House reporters will inevitably face retribution.

They’re doing a disservice to the American public by preserving access for as long as possible, which I believe equals advance compliance to abdicating their mission and becoming subservient. Unfortunately, much of the media is owned or under the influence of the billionaires determined to destroy democracy.

An example of how this self-censorship can be found in what’s not on the list of publications that federal office are being told to cancel subscriptions: namely the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, publications whose billionaire owners have taken a knee for Donald Trump.

One media pushback could be sharply reducing the usage of Trump’s (or Musk’s) name in connection with the policies emanating from the Oval Office. “A spokesperson says… An administration official indicated…” Instead of a photo of either of these characters, perhaps a graphic portraying the victims of those decisions would suffice.

As I’ve said before, I’m convinced that the sort of access journalism related to politicians is a primary reason for so many really bad people holding office.

Hold My Beer, Neville Chamberlain by Jay Kuo at The Status Kuo

• At least Neville Chamberlain was deeply troubled over Germany’s territorial ambitions. Chamberlain didn’t have the benefit of, well, a Neville Chamberlain to understand that receiving assurances from a dictator that he didn’t have further territorial ambitions wasn’t worth a thing. But at least Chamberlain sought and received some kind of concession from Hitler after meeting with him, worthless as that promise turned out to be.

• By contrast, Trump and his cabinet went out of their way to ensure Russia would be getting everything it wants from a peace deal even before talks had begun. When former Fox & Friends host and now allegedly sober U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went before our NATO allies earlier this month, he told the shocked gathering, “We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.”

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Make America Isolated Again by Lyz at Men Yell at Me

• In sum, the data show that if governments want people to have kids, the best way to accomplish that isn’t to restrict their rights but give them access to the money and resources necessary to care for kids, and for fathers to do basic housework. And if you want people to marry, you give them choices and freedom. But that’s not what this is really about.

• This order — like the rest of all these fresh horrors — is not about birth rates. It is about strip-mining the American project and selling it for parts. It’s about isolating people into nuclear family units that have little connection to how people actually derive joy and happiness; cutting them off with the work of family and home. This isolation means the inability to act, to organize, to change. It makes it harder to create any communities, social ties or mutual aid — any meaningful connection outside heterosexual marriage.

• Duffy’s mission is to cut out projects that strengthen communities and connection in favor of projects that prioritize cars, suburbia, and the isolationism that comes with them. It may be cloaked in the language of strengthening the American family, but it’s not about the American family.

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Federal Workers Organize Against Billionaire Power Grab by Joe DeManuelle-Hall at Labor Notes

• The federal sector is “open shop”: workers represented by a union aren’t required to join it. So while AFGE represents 800,000 workers, it has 321,000 members. While NTEU represents 150,000, it has 87,000 members.

• But AFGE and other federal unions have reported significant membership increases since the election and particularly after Trump’s inauguration. According to the Federal News Network, AFGE gained 8,000 members in January and 8,200 in the first 10 days of February. Compare that to the 7,400 members it gained in all of 2024, including newly organized workplaces.

• “We’ve seen a massive increase in new membership,” said Lauren Lieb, a land law examiner at the Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico, and a chapter president and chief steward with NTEU Chapter 340, “including former holdouts who are finally coming on board and getting really engaged.” Lieb’s BLM group unionized relatively recently, in 2020, and they’ve been hearing from workers at other agencies asking how to do the same.