Ex-Bush official: Trump ‘like an addict’ for press coverage

Three former press secretaries warned Sunday that they believe President-elect Donald Trump will create more difficulties for the media when he takes office. 

Former presidential press secretaries for the Clinton and Bush administrations voiced their concerns to Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Nicolle Wallace, who served as communications director during George W. Bush’s administration, said Trump craves the press “like an addict craves their drugs.”

“We’ve just elected a man who bullies female reporters at his rally as an applause line. We have just elected a man who started a hot war with a female anchor instead of attending a debate she moderated,” she said, referencing Fox New’s Megyn Kelly.

“We are in a new place,” Wallace added. “And I don’t think it’s good. And I don’t think it has any parallels to the past.”

{mosads}Joe Lockhart, a White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Trump’s attitude toward facts is reminiscent of President Richard Nixon’s time in the White House. 

We’re really in a place where … they create their own facts,” he said. 

“It’s somewhat Orwellian, which, you know, you redefine the past, which means you can define the present and the future. And that’s going to be very difficult for both sides to come to grips with.”

Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, said the press and Trump both feel disdain for the other side — which helps Trump most of all. 

“… There’s a double-barreled hostility. This press corps can’t stand Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is happy to return the favor,” Fletcher said. “And he uses it to his advantage.”