The White House shows its contempt for the free press

[Commentary] Of all the mind-dizzying hypocrisies that have emanated from President Donald Trump’s communications office, it is hard to find any more outlandish than claiming to “support a free press” while barring a reporter from an open White House event simply because it didn’t like her questions. Outlandish, but not laughable; there’s nothing amusing about the administration’s retaliation against CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins. It underscores — again — the White House’s contempt for the critical role played by the media in a free society. “Highly unusual and possibly unprecedented” is how Post reporters characterized the decision, delivered by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Bill Shine, to block Collins from attending an event July 25 in the Rose Garden. No doubt  [President Trump] thinks sowing distrust of the press serves his purposes, but thankfully there are some small promising signs of backlash to his strongman methods.