Wednesday morning, following the resounding defeat of Republicans in the U.S. House, President Donald Trump called an abrupt press conference at which he trotted out a familiar train of nonsense. That included personal attacks against journalists including CNN’s Jim Acosta, who he’s gotten into it with multiple times before literally around the world.
This time around, after Acosta questioned his description of a caravan of migrants in Central America as an impending “invasion,” Trump railed:
‘CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.’
Trump resorted to the childish attacks in the face of a confrontation with the reality that, well, the migrants in question moving through Central America at present don’t constitute an invasion. They’re asylum-seekers, including plenty of women and children, although Trump has sought to depict them basically as an army-in-waiting coming to take the United States’ resources and terrorize its citizens.
That’s just a scare tactic — and it’s a dangerous one at that. The shooter who recently attacked a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11, cited concerns about the “caravan.” Who knows how many other racist incidents out there have unfolded thanks to similar “concern.”
Trump doesn’t care.
Acosta also questioned the president about — to get more specific — an ad that his camp released depicting immigrants to the U.S. as harboring cop killers and Democrats as keen on letting the supposed mobs in.
Again, Trump resorted to childish insults, snapping:
‘Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better.’
In contentious exchange on migrant caravan, Russian investigation, Pres. Trump tells CNN’s Jim Acosta, “I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN…Put down the mic.”
Acosta’s colleague defended him: “He’s a diligent reporter.” https://t.co/QF15MHrJt2 pic.twitter.com/6B1H7CDfVz
— ABC News (@ABC) November 7, 2018
During the interaction, a White House staffer had tried to take Acosta’s microphone by force — as featured in the above video — but he insisted on keeping it and the back and forth continued.
The irony is — earlier in the same press conference Trump offered some of his occasional lip service to “bipartisanship,” since control of Congress is now divided between the two major parties.
Not many really expect the president to take up that mantle, though. He just continues on with his egotistical nonsense.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
