Throughout the course of his seemingly Teflon-coated, juggernaut like campaign, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has remained at odds with virtually every facet of media coverage. From right-wing pundits like Glenn Beck and Hugh Hewitt , to Fox News and even Rolling Stone , The Donald has found himself on the defensive time and again, delivering a barrage of counter attacks against his detractors. At some level, then, it must be a time of sweet revenge for the Trump campaign, as media representatives are now required to comply with very specific restrictions when covering the prominent Republican at public events.
On Tuesday evening, Katy Tur of NBC News tweeted that Donald Trump’s campaign now requires reporters to have bathroom escorts at campaign events whenever they leave “the pen,” a designated area for reporters that is cordoned off from the audience and stage areas. Tur typically serves as a foreign correspondent, but is currently following Donald Trump for NBC on his campaign for the GOP nomination.
Trump campaign now requiring media to have bathroom escorts at his rallies when leaving “the pen” #watchthemedia .
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) November 25, 2015
Tur followed up by noting that media are now barred from leaving their designated area while Donald Trump is in the room. She added that the rules are “official policy” of the Trump campaign and that the Secret Service is actively enforcing the restrictions.
Media told they aren’t allowed to leave “the pen” while Trump is in the room. Its now official policy that the secret service is enforcing.
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) November 25, 2015
The reporter also shared a snapshot of the venue later in the evening, suggesting that Secret Service were sequestering members of the press well after the event ended.
Let’s be clear, this is even happening AFTER the event. pic.twitter.com/bZZXp5GpLd
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) November 25, 2015
The move to contain press at Trump events comes on the heels of some embarrassing moments for the Trump campaign, including a situation at a rally in Alabama in which a protester was allegedly beaten and chided with racial slurs by the candidate’s supporters. Thirty-one-year-old Mercutio Southall, an African-American, interrupted a speech by Trump chanting “Black lives matter!” Video of the scrum that followed shows people pushing, yelling at, and even kicking Southall before he was forcibly removed from the event. In an interview the next day, Donald Trump had little sympathy for Southall.
“Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,” Donald Trump told Fox News .
Last week, Donald Trump was confronted at an event by a reporter who asked the candidate if he would require Muslims to require some form of identification that would indicate their religious affiliation. Trump initially said he would support the measure, but when pressed further regarding the similarities between the aforementioned registry and similar policies and practices imposed on the Nazis against Jews , he became indignant. The candidate later blamed the press for misconstruing his words and ideas.
Donald Trump has also been under an increasing crush of media scrutiny regarding comments he made regarding the September 11 attacks. Trump maintains that he witnessed thousands of Arab-Americans in Jersey City celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center towers after the terrorist attack. But his claim has been largely refuted and discredited. John Farmer, Jr., who served as New Jersey’s attorney general on September 11 , recently penned an Op-Ed piece for NewJersey.com in which he roundly discounted Trump’s account of the day in question.
“[I]t is just plain wrong to cite thousands of Muslims dancing in Jersey City or Paterson on 9/11 as support. That simply never happened.”
Despite an abundance of fact checking and critical coverage of his campaign-trail exploits, Donald Trump remains well ahead of his competition. Compiling results from four major polling sources, Real Clear Politics indicates that Donald Trump currently leads the entire pack of Republican contenders by a range of four to 10 points.
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