A day after his inauguration, President Donald Trump fired a new salvo at the “dishonest” American media, announcing that it is now a “running war” between him and the Fourth Estate.
For Trump, the latest provocation was the “lie” perpetrated about the low turnout of people at his inauguration. While he and his own team believed that about 1.5 million people showed up, a particular network put the number at a mere 2,50,000, Trump complained.
“I have a running war with the media, they are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth,” he commented while on a visit to the CIA headquarters in langley, Virginia on Saturday.
He also objected to recent media reports about his relationship with the intelligence community, remarking: “They (media outlets) sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”
“I can only say that I am with you a thousand per cent and the reason you’re my first stop,” he told the assembled CIA officers, virtually disavowing his own comments that it was “disgraceful” on the part of intelligence agencies to have leaked “fake news” and “phony stuff” about him.
It was not Trump alone who trained his guns on the media. His Press Secretary Sean Spicer followed up by attacking “some members of the media” for indulging in “deliberately false reporting”.
“One was a particular egregious example in which a reporter falsely tweeted out that the bust of Martin luther King, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office,” Spicer said in what was his first Press briefing at the White House. Saying nothing of the sort had happened, he called it an “irresponsible and reckless” piece of reporting.
Trump himself referred to this report at his interaction with CIA officers, saying: “I would never do that, because I have great respect for Dr. Martin luther King. But this (is) how dishonest the media is.”
Spicer also joined issues with media outlets over their reports that the turnout of people for Trump’s inauguration was much smaller than what it was for President Barack Obama eight years ago.
Pointing out that the National Park Service that oversees the National Mall where spectators gather does not come out with crowd estimations any longer, Spicer said that pegging the number at as low as 250,000 was just a “shameful” attempt by some outlets to downplay the public enthusiasm for President Trump.
Making it clear that the new administration will hold the media to account, Spicer said: “There’s been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable. And I’m here to tell you that it goes two ways. We’re going to hold the press accountable, as well,” he said.
The new White House spokesman went on to say: “The American people deserve better. And as long as he (Trump) serves as the messenger for this incredible movement, he will take his message directly to the American people where his focus will always be.”