“It’s not a big deal,” Trump told Fox News in an interview on Friday. “What they said, though, is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct, etcetera. We’re going to write them up. It’s not a big deal. If he misbehaves, we’ll throw him out or we’ll stop the news conference.”
Yes, Trump is right (for a change). If there had been a formal rule that said each reporter is entitled to one question, no follow-ups, and must then yield the mic, and if the rule had been universally applied without exception, then the White House could remove the press pass of anyone who violated the rules.
Normally such a rule would not really be necessary, but the word “normally” never applies to President Trump, does it? There is so much antagonism between him and the press corps, that a rigid set of rules is necessary, and there probably ought to be a “sergeant-at-arms” to enforce the rules, rather than having Trump do it himself. (Because you know he’ll apply them arbitrarily, allowing Fox News ten softball questions, then removing CNN for asking two contentious ones, thereby invalidating the rules and sending everything back to square one.)
Personally, I don’t think press conferences should be done by having people shouting for attention and having the president call on the people he prefers. Instead of orderly questioners, these reporters look like people trying to get seats on Aeroflot in the Soviet days. If it were my decision, I’d have all the reporters write out questions, throw them in a bowl, and have one designated reporter (different each time) to pull them out at random and read them, throwing out any that duplicated previous questions. Just as with any other method, the President would decide when to quit.
