On September 18th, 2026, President Donald Trump posted online to the platform Truth Social stating that he would be “banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW,… and Politico… from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” fake news!” (BBC). Following this post, journalists from the news outlets reported actually being barred from entering the White House. The journalists’ badges for access began to be denied upon attempts to enter, and the badges were rendered disabled, eventually being confiscated. As a result, a conversation sparked involving First Amendment rights and censorship of news media. CNN commented via X, “We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right” (NBC News). Many officials have also commented on the bans, also asserting that it is unconstitutional and undemocratic to restrict and/or control any news outlets, as highlighted in the First Amendment. Most recently, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly put a two-week restraining order on the ban, restoring the journalists’ access, but this order will expire on October 8th. This type of restriction on free press is not just unconstitutional, it is one of many steps America has recently taken away from democracy. Freedom of press is vitally important to democracy as a whole, particularly because it ensures a degree of transparency that citizens would not and do not have without it. The press in this case is meant to act as an informer to the general public about what the government is doing, ultimately so that everyone can form their own political opinion and engage in the political sphere. Although fake news and propaganda is very much a real issue, Trump’s claims have not been backed up with necessary evidence to be well-founded at this time, leading many to believe that they are mere excuses to justify violating the first amendment. Further, the press reports on violations of democratic principles, such as restrictions of civil rights and liberties, restrictions on voting, and even smaller things that could act as warning signs for stealth authoritarianism. In response to recent events, over 50 news networks have signed an amicus brief suing Trump. Most notably, Fox News, the historically right-wing news network, also signed the brief. This has shocked many observers of these events considering that Fox News and other networks such as CNN are vastly different in political affiliation. But this cause has proved itself important enough to gain solidarity from political rivals. This assault on governmental transparency has weakened Trump’s legitimacy as president. Transparency and legitimacy have a complex relationship in the sense that increased transparency tends to increase legitimacy, however, if such increased transparency reveals information that harms the government’s reputation, it can decrease legitimacy. In addition, if there is a lack of transparency from the government, citizens are typically led to believe that the government has something to hide, which also decreases legitimacy. This complex relationship in this case is certainly not helped by the fact that recent reports on Trump talk largely about his sexual assault allegations and other allegations of crimes. Myself and many others worry that restrictions of constitutional rights and freedoms by Trump will only increase following these events if nothing is done. Political polarization will not help us on this matter. It is important to be objective, because regardless of who loves Trump and who hates Trump, restrictions on constitutional rights harm democracy, and affect everyone in the democracy.