The legacy media is in a familiar tizzy, exhibiting their usual self-importance over President Trump's reported desire to restore the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room to its original function: a swimming pool. The New York Times, ever eager to fan the flames of outrage, could barely contain their hysteria with a Tuesday headline that screamed:
Oh, the drama! "Evicted." The sheer horror! For the Washington establishment and its media cheerleaders, any inconvenience to their privileged access is, naturally, an immediate "threat to Democracy."
The Times, predictably, framed Trump's rumored plan as an attack on the very foundations of American governance. "Mr. Trump has told aides he would prefer to bring back the indoor pool President Franklin D. Roosevelt added in 1933 as therapy for his polio-afflicted legs; President Richard Nixon later covered it over to make room for the news media. Journalists who are credentialed to cover the White House work out of a small office space connected to the press briefing room," the paper reported. "While moving the media out of the White House may be a relatively small debate considering Mr. Trump’s attacks on journalists more broadly, it would be highly symbolic. The proximity of the media to the seat of U.S. executive power has long been an acknowledgment of the importance of a free press in a constitutional democracy."
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, never one to mince words, was unimpressed by the legacy media's predictable wailing, suggesting they largely brought this on themselves.
It's worth remembering that the swimming pool structure still exists beneath the briefing room. And while Nixon repurposed the indoor pool in 1970, an outdoor pool was installed in 1975 under President Gerald Ford. That move prompted only minor media grumbling, which quickly disappeared once it was clarified that Ford's pool was privately financed. Funny how a little private funding makes all the difference when the "free press" isn't footing the bill.
Today, of course, if Trump so much as picks a flower on White House grounds, it triggers a five-alarm media firestorm. It seems common sense and a sense of proportion are not required for a White House press pass.
The President has long considered moving journalists to an alternative location, such as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Yet, the corporate media continues to act as if their comfortable perch in the West Wing is a sacred, constitutional right rather than a mere courtesy.
The Times also frets that Trump has surrounded himself with staff who actually share his America First policy vision, rather than swamp creatures beholden to establishment interests: "What has changed since Mr. Trump’s first term or even earlier this term is the staff around him. The president’s core team has shrunk from the already-tight unit that he brought into the White House last year. During earlier discussions, most of Mr. Trump’s senior aides agreed it served him better to keep the media nearby. But Mr. Trump has grown more enraged about his press coverage, and other advisers of growing influence have encouraged him to take drastic measures to punish journalists." Apparently, having loyal staff who support the President's agenda is now considered "drastic."
However, there are genuinely practical reasons for considering a move from the antiquated Brady Room. It's notoriously small, and the administration has expressed a desire to allow access to a more diverse range of outlets, not just those heavily biased toward the leftist establishment. Simply put, the space is often cramped and exclusionary.
This move could also be a strategic effort to further sideline the White House Correspondents Association, which has long exerted undue influence over access to the Brady Room. That grip notably loosened in February 2025 when Trump and then-Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took control of selecting outlets for the presidential press pool. The legacy media's monopoly on information is clearly under threat, and they don't like it one bit.
Whether President Trump is genuinely planning to make this move, further sending the media into a frenzy, or merely trolling them with a masterful stroke, the outcome is the same: a powerful message to a biased press that their days of unchallenged privilege are numbered. It's a win for accountability and a blow against the entrenched narrative peddled by the corporate media.
