Chants of “CNN sucks” broke out at President Trump’s rally in Florida on Wednesday night as the president lamented the “left-wing” media’s coverage of his visit to Pittsburgh the day before.
Trump visited Pittsburgh on Tuesday after a mass shooting at an area synagogue on Saturday left 11 congregants dead and six others wounded. The president was met by hundreds of protesters, many of whom said he was not welcome due to his divisive and sometimes incendiary rhetoric.
{mosads}The president, throughout Wednesday, lamented the media’s coverage of the protests, falsely claiming the protest groups were small.
Trump kicked off the rally by denouncing the shooting, which he called “horrible.”
“Yesterday’s visit to Pittsburgh was about coming together as a nation to comfort and to heal,” he said. “After this day of unity and togetherness, I came home, and sadly, I turned on the news and watched as the far-left media once again used tragedy to sow anger and division.”
The crowd began to chant “CNN sucks” as Trump continued.
CNN last week was one of many to receive a package containing a crude pipe bomb. The suspect charged in connection with the mailings, Cesar Sayoc Jr., has been accused of sending similar explosives to more than a dozen high-profile Democrats and figures with whom Trump has publicly sparred.
“Sadly, they took a small group of protesters, far away from where we were,” Trump said. “[The media] did everything in their power to try to play it up and push people apart.”
“That’s what’s happening, they’re pushing people apart,” he continued.
Trump later revived a familiar refrain, calling the press “the enemy of the people,” drawing a strong reaction from the crowd.
In the days since the pipe bomb mailings were first reported and those following Saturday’s shooting in Pittsburgh, Democrats and other critics have accused Trump’s often inflammatory rhetoric for sparking divisiveness and inciting violence, claims which Trump has deflected repeatedly.
CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker last week tore into Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for their sustained attacks on the press.
“There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,” Zucker said in a statement. “The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter.”