Trump unloads on media in post-Mueller tweets

by Jordan Fabian - 04/23/19 8:45 AM ET

President Trump unloaded on the news media in a series of tweets Tuesday morning, claiming he faces an unprecedented level of criticism in The New York Times, as well as on CNN and MSNBC.

Trump wrote that the coverage of his presidency shows the “totally insane” media is conspiring with “the Radical Left Democrats” to hurt his chances of reelection.

{mosads}“In the ‘old days’ if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism,” Trump wrote. “Remember, ‘It’s the economy stupid.’ Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history…and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!”

In the “old days” if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, “It’s the economy stupid.” Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history…and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2019

The president’s outburst came as he has groused for days about the coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, which did not charge Trump with crimes but painted an unflattering picture of the inner workings of the White House and detailed Moscow’s efforts to help Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The contents of the full report have muddled Trump’s claim that it was a “complete and total exoneration” and breathed new life into the debate over whether congressional Democrats should impeach him.

Tuesday morning’s tweets did not directly reference the Mueller report, but Trump’s sense of grievance against the media over its coverage ran through them as a common thread.

Trump took a swipe at Paul Krugman, the liberal New York Times opinion writer and economist who published a column on Monday criticizing Republicans for not taking action against the president in response to the report’s findings.

“Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me. He is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is. He said Market would crash, Only Record Highs!” the president wrote.

Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me. He is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is. He said Market would crash, Only Record Highs!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2019

In a second tweet minutes later, Trump asked whether the Times would “apologize to me a second time, as they did after the 2016 Election.”

“But this one will have to be a far bigger & better apology. On this one they will have to get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness—they are truly the Enemy of the People!” he wrote.

The Times’s top editor and publisher wrote a note to readers following the 2016 election saying they had underestimated the rise of Trump, but did not apologize for the paper’s coverage. Nonetheless, Trump has repeatedly claimed the newspaper apologized for its writings about him.

Trump then turned his attention to cable news, writing that MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which he called “Morning Psycho (Joe),” had helped him get elected in 2016 “by having me on (free) all the time” but that now its ratings “nosedived” because of critical coverage.

“Angry Dumb and Sick,” he tweeted. “A really bad show with low ratings — and will only get worse.”

Trump also ridiculed CNN for promoting Chris Cuomo to a prime-time slot “despite his massive failure” as the host of the morning program “New Day.”

“Only on CNN!” the president wrote.

He called “Fox & Friends,” one of the programs friendliest to his administration, “by far the best of the morning political shows on television. It rightfully has BY FAR the highest ratings, not even close.”

Trump also insinuated, without evidence, that Twitter was depressing his follower count of 59.9 million because he is a Republican.

“They don’t treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory, hard for people to sign on. Constantly taking people off list. Big complaints from many people. Different names—over 100 M. But should be much higher than that if Twitter wasn’t playing their political games,” he wrote.

Conservatives have long accused Twitter and other social media platforms of bias against them, charges the companies deny.

The tweets come days before the White House Correspondents’ Association will hold its annual dinner, which Trump will not attend for the third straight year. He instead plugged the rally he plans to hold as counterprogramming in Green Bay, Wis.

“Big crowd expected, much to talk about. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”