President Donald Trump took his frustration with the American media to a new level Friday afternoon, accusing several media outlets of being “the enemy of the American People.”
Trump tweeted a similar message at 4:32 p.m., then deleted it. Many people created a screen grab of the tweet.
Deleted @realDonaldTrump tweet calling the media the enemy of the American people pic.twitter.com/CvSlwM4Z7e
But Trump reposted the tweet – with additional media outlets mentioned and the word “SICK!” eliminated — at 4:48 p.m. Trump mentioned The New York Times and four television networks – CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC — in his second tweet.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
Trump later followed up the tweet with another citing a positive review of the press conference by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who called the news conference “one of the most effective” he had seen. In the tweet, he also used the term “FAKE MEDIA.”
"One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree.Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest
Friday’s tweet comes on the heels of his press conference Thursday in which Trump repeatedly attacked the media’s credibility while making several false claims about the size of his Electoral College victory. He also attacked a stream of leaks from the intelligence community under his presidency, saying that while the information in the leaks has been accurate, “The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.”
“The press — the public doesn’t believe you people anymore. Now, maybe I had something to do with that. I don’t know. But they don’t believe you," Trump added. "But you’ve got to be at least a little bit fair, and that’s why the public sees it. They see it. They see it’s not fair. You take a look at some of your shows and you see the bias and the hatred."
Trump also repeatedly used the term “fake news” to refer to the coverage of his administration, a common rallying cry among his supporters who believe the press has been lying in its coverage in an attempt to discredit Trump.
Also on Thursday, the president’s political action committee sent a survey to supporters after the news conference that blasted the mainstream media.
In the survey, which also asked participants to donate money to the Republican National Committee, users were asked 25 questions, most of which suggested that the media had acted unfairly in their coverage of Trump’s presidency, per Yahoo News.
However, several of Trump’s critics online called on others to take the survey, seemingly hoping to skew the results.
[Today in Trump tweets: ‘Fake media not happy,’ Kellogg considered for NSA]
Since Feb. 3, Trump has tweeted 15 times using the terms “fake news” or “fake media.”
Thank you for all of the nice statements on the Press Conference yesterday. Rush Limbaugh said one of greatest ever. Fake media not happy!
FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and "sources," is far more effective than the discredited Democrats – but they are fading fast!
The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!
Trump first used the term “fake news” on Twitter on Dec. 10. Since then, he has used some variation of the phrase 30 times, mostly in 2017.
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