we have this unelected fourth, unconstitutional branch of government (12. 225)

Journalists from the Associated Press were barred from attending an Oval Office event, a signing ceremony for yet another executive order—newsworthy for its magnitude and ineptitude—with Elon Musk in attendance to announce agency heads were to undertake preparations, working with DOGE to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce after “billions and billions of dollars” in fraud, waste and abuse had been uncovered, for not referring as the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its syndicated articles, and reporters would continue to be excluded from the White House press pool until such time as wire service aligns its language with that of Trump’s. An EO banning the use of paper straws in federal facilities was also signed.  Several news organisations have rallied to the AP’s defence, saying that the president cannot dictate reporting or editing decisions. This follows other attacks against the press, including suits for supposed libel and deplatforming and banishing several outlets from the Pentagon, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and NPR as well as threatening the same group’s broadcasting licenses over newsroom and network diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives characterised as promotion “invidious forms of discrimination” that will not be tolerated.