“Your mom.”
That was the childish response from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when a reporter asked who had chosen Budapest as the next location for a meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Only a few days later, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell replied, “Your mom bought it for him,” when HuffPost asked why Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wore a Russian flag tie during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On one side, we have the people running the most powerful country on Earth. On the other, we have the American press — supposedly responsible for demanding the answers the public deserves. Unfortunately, if you’ve been even slightly paying attention since Trump first rose to power, you know the truth: the American political press deserves nothing. In fact, they deserve less than nothing. They deserve answers like “your mom.”
The Press Forgot How to Press
Trump and his minions have turned the media and U.S. political press into a complete joke over the past decade. So when I saw those “your mom” responses on my feed, I couldn’t help but literally laugh out loud. The press has spent years downplaying or outright ignoring the endless scandals and conflicts of interest within Trump’s orbit. And perhaps their worst offense: they’ve completely surrendered the art of asking serious questions — or following up on them.
The press should feel deep shame for how they’ve covered this president, and I can promise you that history won’t be kind to them. Donald Trump has been giving the same predictable answers for 10 years in the exact same manner. If your fellow reporters— or anyone who follows politics — can accurately predict Trump’s answer before he even opens his mouth, then the question wasn’t worth asking.
If Ukraine comes under drone attack hours after Trump speaks with Putin, reporters must press him on it — and refuse to accept the same tired “I’m not happy with Putin” line. If a new tariff is being levied on the American people, reporters should challenge him on its real economic impact, backed by facts. It is unacceptable to let the greatest liar in American political history pretend that tariffs help working families. And it’s equally unacceptable to let the so-called leader of the free world joke about running for an illegal third term or openly weaponizing the Justice Department.
Ignoring Epstein
Trump made it a campaign promise to release the Epstein files. Yet 11 months into his presidency, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has done everything possible to block their release on Trump’s behalf. Only after a sustained pressure campaign and a forced vote are we finally on the verge of seeing who is implicated in those files — and we can only hope the press finds it interesting enough to keep digging.
Another example of the incompetent press: just days after a disturbing birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein signed by Trump became public, right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk was murdered. The bombshell birthday card story deserved far more than a week of attention, but the press never circled back, exactly as Trump expected.
Meanwhile, child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a cushy prison, with reports of inmates saying she receives favorable treatment. Recently, it was reported that Maxwell had a “special visitor” — one so important that the entire facility had to be shut down.
It wasn’t long ago that Trump’s personal attorney, Todd Blanche, interviewed Maxwell and conveniently walked away with statements absolving Trump of wrongdoing. So who was the secret visitor? What kind of VIP warrants locking down an entire prison? Your guess is as good as mine — but apparently, the political press decided it doesn’t matter.
Complicit in Corruption
The corruption never ends, and the press — determined to keep their own gravy train rolling — won’t save us. Recently, Trump defended reports that he asked the Department of Justice to pay him $230 million for “fraudulent investigations” conducted while he was out of office.
Given that Trump personally appoints the cronies who sign off on these decisions, it’s likely he’ll walk away with another quarter-billion dollars of taxpayer money he thinks he’s entitled to. He claims he’ll donate it to charity — but if history tells us anything, that “charity” will probably end up funneling straight into his own pocket.
And of course, there are the blatantly corrupt presidential pardons — where a simple influx of cash into one of the many Trump family crypto scams can buy your freedom, no matter how guilty you are. We have to recall a Rolling Stone report that offered this revealing insight: “One of the lessons Trump took away from his previous stint in the White House is that he was wrong to leave a ton of money on the table as president.”
Will the press hold him accountable? I think we all know the answer.
Accountability Starts Inside the Media
Beyond asking better questions to federal officials, the press needs to start holding each other accountable — especially when fellow reporters throw softball questions at this fascist administration.
I’m not a journalist, and I don’t know the inner workings of the press pool. But from the outside, they don’t look much different from a police department protecting its own. Trump may be the most accessible president in modern history, but that doesn’t make him the most transparent. The press can — and must — do better.
I hate to see newspapers fail, but when the media repeatedly lobs softball questions at the president, it’s hard not to feel anger and hopelessness — even to the point of wishing they’d all lose their jobs.
A Glimmer of Hope
There is a faint glimmer of hope. Recently, the Pentagon issued a set of new rules for journalists covering its operations. In a rare act of defiance, most mainstream outlets, including Fox News, refused to sign, arguing the rules violated the First Amendment’s protections of the free press.
It’s a small gesture, but it shows the patient is still breathing, however faintly. As the United States marches into more authoritarian and economically unstable territory, it’s vital that the press finally wakes up.
If journalists want better answers than “your mom,” they’d better start doing their fucking jobs.
