Even in the vast galaxy of imaginary scandals that the media regularly put out there as a substitute for meaningful content, the outrage over President Trump and members of his administration posing with Goya products is pathetic and ridiculous.

The real scandal may be how blatantly CNN and other media outlets promoted a boycott of Goya because its CEO is a Trump supporter. We’ve gone well beyond the objectivity issue and to the media actively seeking to punish anyone who supports a political party they oppose.

But back to the non-scandal. If presidential product placement is a scandal, then Obama was a non-stop scandal.

Remember the Samsung selfie with Obama. Or the constant visits to Big Tech brands, like Facebook and Google, the Coke moment, or the Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirts?

Obama was the first branded president who understood the subconscious power that brands wield over the American consumer, and he also traded access to brands who wanted to borrow some of his image in ways that were not illegal, but were cynical. 

You can play a long game of guessing which major trendy brands Obama wasn’t photographed with.

But it’s not as if presidents giving brands a little bit of product placement is new. That’s how you get CEOs to show up to conferences on some initiative or another. But, as usual, the media insists on inventing scandals even as its misbehavior is the real scandal. While Chris Cuomo waxes outraged about Goya product photos, he continues covering up for the thousands of nursing home residents his brother killed.