Now that Trump’s divisive rhetoric is coming home to roost in ways that he and his administration cannot easily explain away, the president seems desperate to change the narrative. Not desperate enough to stop his social media attacks on the people who have been targeted due to his need to sow division, but at least desperate enough to throw a Twitter tantrum blaming everyone but himself for the consequences of his actions.
So far on Twitter, at rallies, and in press conferences, Trump has called the following news outlets “fake news”: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, and many others. The only mainstream news media outlet Trump has praised and promoted is Fox News, where Trump is consistently praised.
Trump has repeatedly stood on stage at rallies, both during the campaigns and since becoming president, and pointed to the press box while declaring every reporter there was a member of the “fake news” media.
He also pointed specifically to CNN reporter Jim Acosta during his first press conference as president and called him and his network “fake news.” The media outlet who was targeted by the MAGA bomber sent a pipe bomb and a suspicious white powder to CNN.
No matter how Trump would like to spin all of this, his attacks on the mainstream media, his spreading of anti-semitic sentiment with his fear-mongering against George Soros, and his vilification of people like President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and even Robert De Niro inspired a domestic terrorist to commit heinous crimes that could have ended with the deaths of American citizens, the citizens Trump is sworn to protect.
Twitter was not budging on their assessment of Trump’s rhetoric, either. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
