Christopher Rufo
Role at the time: Senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a guest panelist on Overtime with Bill Maher
Statement summary
Answering a question about Trump banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, Christopher Rufo said the ban “is a mistake in the same way it was a mistake for Robert Kraft to ban Macklemore.” He went on to say that the press ban gives Trump’s opponents “an easy win” because they can say they stand for free speech and good journalism, and that it is “a mistake strategically” and “on the substance.”
“This is a mistake in the same way it was a mistake for Robert Kraft to ban Macklemore.”
Official Real Time with Bill Maher upload of Overtime, the post-show panel conversation that follows the September 18, 2026 episode, published on the show’s YouTube channel at 11:00 p.m. EDT on September 18, 2026 (03:00 UTC on September 19). The passage is Christopher Rufo’s answer to a question about Trump’s announced exclusion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House; Jessica Tarlov’s reply begins at 01:51. An on-screen caption identifies Christopher Rufo (“Sr. Fellow, The Manhattan Institute”) while he speaks, and he is on camera throughout the passage.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Rufo mentions Macklemore only as a comparison in an answer about Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and says it was “a mistake for Robert Kraft to ban Macklemore.” Under this case’s convention, opposing the removal or predicting it will backfire is recorded as “Defended or excused”; that is not an endorsement of the speech, which he does not address in this exchange. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, but he states no condition and no differing positions on the removal, and his objection is framed strategically, as handing opponents “an easy win.”