FIRST AMENDMENT “Our newspaper has been banned from some events” says Hadas Gold Politico’s media writer. “It’s frustrating but it’s more frustrating from the point of view of freedom of speech and the First Amendment” (Photo: AP Imagebank)

T here is a war between the media and the president of the United States.

When exactly did it start? It’s hard to say but it’s clear that the antagonism runs deep.

Donald Trump is a media personality and businessman. He made a name for himself by thinking big creating an empire of commercial and residential properties across the globe. He deftly marketed his product in part by associating his name with luxury stamping his name on his buildings in oversized gilded capital letters. Still one could enjoy the luxe trimmings without thinking much about the man behind them.

Then came the presidential campaign. Trump was an outsider and few gave him any chance of success. In fact the media famously belittled his candidacy as can be seen on numerous video compilations floating around the Internet. But then the crowds began to swell and the polls remained mysteriously close suggesting he was touching a nerve. That’s when the media panicked.

Trump is not a sophisticate. He’s heimish despite his gold-plated apartment in Trump Tower. He says what he thinks and doesn’t care much what you think. The media — largely a group of well-educated liberals — think he’s uncouth. After eight years of Barack Obama the ultra-cool intellectual with all the right elite credentials Trump was the party crasher with the blowhorn.

Into this mix add that Trump has an elastic relationship with facts often exaggerating his own accomplishments and magnifying the attacks of his adversaries. On March 4 he famously tweeted that Barack Obama had “wiretapped” Trump Tower. Investigations are ongoing but it seems unlikely that allegation was literally true.

The media for its part has made its opinions of the president clear often in overtly partisan fashion. A recent Los Angeles Times editorial called the president a “narcissist and demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters.”