CSI: American Carnage (Thursday, May 9, 2019)
PANAMA CITY BEACH Fla. – The Times guy looks up and through the raucous crowd gathered in Aaron Bessant Park outside the amphitheater he sees the Post guy, hat on, standing in the sun, scribbling away. Hey, says the Times guy. What are you doing here? The Post guy looks up from his notes. He says, Hey. We all got our White House press credentials cancelled. The Times guy says, No way. You’ve had credentials for 40 years. The Post guy says, Yeah. Well. Not anymore. Sarah implemented new standards, which basically kick all the reporters the heck out. You see Dana’s piece about it? The Times guy says, No. Absolutely not. No. The Post guy pulls out his cell and calls up a story. He says, Take a look. The Times guy reads about the revocation of credentials under a “new standard” – only reporters in the White House 90 days out of the previous 80 will be allowed to cover the White House. Dana writes that it is a clear — if impossible — standard. Regulars for the Post and Associated Press are barred. The Times guy says, That’s ridiculous. Appeal it. The Post guy says, We did. Dana is still barred. He says he suspects it’s because he is critical of Donald. The Times guy says, Hmmm. Speak of the devil. The crowd is hooting. Chants of Lock her up! Lock her up! break out throughout the park. Donald has arrived. The Times guy says, Why do they still chant that? Donald’s been president for over two years. The Post guy says, They never forget. The crowd hoots some more. People shout, Hoot, hoot, hoot. USA! USA! USA! Donald waves. He says, Well, I just want to say hello, Panama City Beach. It’s a nice place. We had some, we had some great times here, you remember, before that, that great election, a great, great election, ’16, right, ‘16, and now we have ‘20 coming up. Who would believe November 3rd, not November, if it’s November 3rd, and it’s going to be just as special as November 8th, going to be just as special. The Times guy says, Special. It’s going to be special. He jots it down. The crowd hoots some more. There are cheers for Hurricane Michael. Boos for Hurricane Maria. Boos for the invasion of thugs and rapists marching toward the southern border. Boo. More boos. Donald says, I mean when you have 15,000 people marching up and you have hundreds and hundreds of people, and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great, and don’t forget, we don’t let them, and we can’t let them use weapons. We can’t. Other countries do. We can’t, I would never do that. But how do you stop these people? Someone in the crowd yells, Shoot them! Donald stops. He points. He smiles and chuckles. The crowd laughs and cheers. Donald says, No, that’s, only in the panhandle you can get away with that statement. The crowd laughs and cheers some more. The chant rises, Eight more years! Eight more years! The Times guy looks at the Post guy. He says, How about another two terms? The Post guy says, Only two? — Thursday, May 9, 2019