CNN’s Acosta: I’m worried Trump’s rhetoric toward media ‘will result in somebody getting hurt’

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta expressed concern on Tuesday with the way President Trump’s supporters heckle members of the press, warning that the president’s rhetoric could “result in somebody getting hurt.”

Acosta posted a video from Trump’s rally in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday showing supporters shouting down members of the press. At one point, one man in the crowd looks into the camera and yells, “stop lying.”

“Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa,” Acosta tweeted. “I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.”

Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 31, 2018

{mosads}

Trump has made his ongoing feud with media outlets that cover his administration critically a centerpiece of his brand of politics, often referring to coverage he deems unfavorable to him as “fake news.”

He has also repeatedly called reporters the “enemy of the people.” That particular accusation was the subject of a meeting earlier this month between Trump and A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times.

Trump revealed the existence of the off-the-record meeting in a tweet on Sunday, writing that the two “spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ “

That prompted a response from Sulzberger, who said in a statement that he had met with the president to urge him to tone town his attacks on the media at large. 

“I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,’ ” Sulzberger said.

“I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”