Not for nuthin’…. But….. when a Harvard constitutional scholar looks at a White House press-credential fight and sees King George III, Louis XIV, and an emperor all at once, we’ve left the law library and checked into the TDS ward.
What was said
On Thursday night, Sep 24, 2026, CNN’s Erin Burnett brought on Laurence Tribe — Harvard Law professor emeritus — after CNN was denied access to cover guest arrivals at President Trump’s state dinner for China’s Xi Jinping. Earlier that day a federal judge had ordered the White House to restore credentials for CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. Fair game to argue the First Amendment and court compliance. Tribe went somewhere else.
Exact words, from CNN’s own OutFront rush transcript:
“This president does not recognize that he is subject to the law. I was trying to think of parallels in history, but there really are none. George III didn't have this kind of power. He tried to control coverage, but he was responsible to a parliament. This Congress basically does, because of the MAGA element, does what the president wants. Even King Louis XIV didn't go this far. He said, L'Etat c'est moi, I am the state. But even the state is subject to the law. Whereas Trump specifically said, I am the law… We can't have this in this country. That's dictatorship.”
And a beat later:
“He would like basically to be not just King Trump, but Emperor Trump. And I'm not having it, and I don't think the American people are having it either.”
Sources: CNN OutFront transcript, Sep 24, 2026 · HuffPost, Sep 25, 2026 · Above the Law, Sep 25, 2026
Context (not spin)
What actually happened: a bitter fight over White House press access and which outlets get into a pre-credentialed state-dinner arrival. A Trump-appointed judge issued a TRO restoring access; CNN reported delays and a turn-away from the dinner arrivals; Chinese state media was present. That’s a real media-law story — argue it in court, argue it on air.
What it is not: King George III (the guy we fought a revolution against), Louis XIV (the Sun King of Versailles), or “Emperor Trump.” Equating a credentialing dispute with absolute monarchy is the rhetorical equivalent of calling a Marblehead nor’easter the end of the Republic. Down here on the North Shore, we know the difference between a messy squall and a Category 5.
MOAM’s diagnosis
Severity: TERMINAL.
Disagree with how the White House handled the press? File the brief. Cheer the TRO? Fine. But when the go-to analogy for every Trump fight is “worse than the kings we overthrew,” and the closer is “dictatorship” plus “Emperor Trump,” the scholarship has left the building. That’s not constitutional analysis — that’s the syndrome talking loud enough to drown out the actual legal question. When every press spat has to be 1776 all over again, people stop hearing the real cases. Marblehead built a country to argue in courtrooms, not to crown every cable-news guest the town crier of tyranny.
MOAM Out.
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